unido & commercial use (really choice of models of society)

[Karl Tombre]

This discussion has quickly evolved into a discussion about models of society.
All the technical reasons for the pricing practices here on Eunet have
been given now, I think. Basically, we can say that the problem comes
from monopolies and high telecom pricings. Now, a lot of people
(especially from the USA) have condemned these monoplies over here in
Europe and praised free competition. BUT I think there is a choice of
the model of society you wish which lies behind all that.

You probably are right that free competition among several companies
would lower prices ***** for big telecom users *****. Sure it will.
But remember the situation over here is not a private company having a
monopoly, but a PUBLIC SERVICE run by the government. For instance, if
I don't make a mistake, every French citizen pays the same fee for
getting connected to the phone network: if you live in the midst of a
city or out in the wilderness, several kilometers from the nearest
phone line, you just pay THE SAME, and the telecoms set up the
connection line to your house. Alas, nothing is perfect, and this is
not the case with electrical power lines (you must pay a share if a
new line is to be set up).

Take also postal service. Would a private postal company let you pay
just the same for one letter if you are a big company sending tons of
mail or if you are a farmer in a remote place sending ONE letter per
month ??? Sure it won't. But a state-run postal services delivers mail
FOR THE SAME PRICE to all citizens, regardless how much the
send/receive and where they live !!!! Doesn't it occur to anybody that
this could also be seen as a good thing ???

Now a public service must also be run without too much loss (or let us
say at least that globally a country should be run without deficit -
any comments, US citizens over there ? -;). That means that the big
users probably pay more than their share to support the small users.
That also means that the public service should have a more or less
complete monopoly... if all the big users go to the private companies,
the public service can't continue only with the small users... I
for one don't feel uncomfortable about that. Should it be considered
as the perfect model to have the capitalistic view that you are
FREE... to starve to death if you have no money for buying food,
whereas others are free to exploit the neighbour as much as they can ?
Isn't it a RIGHT of EVERY human being to LIVE, for instance ?

I won't say that any model is perfect, or that the pricing policies of
our European telecom companies can't be improved. But I see nothing
basically wrong in the fact that some benefits from one public service
can be used for paying another public service, such as free AND EQUAL
health care to all, for instance. I certainly prefer the health system
in our countries than that in the USA, where basically you can get the
best doctor and the best care if you can afford it, and you only get
minimal service if you are poor. On this net, most of us may be among
the more affluent part of the population, but I for one like the fact
that here in France everyone is equal (well, hmmm, let's say more
equal than in the US... nothing is perfect ;-) with respect to health care.

Of course, others may hold a different view on that matter; that's
their right. But let us remember that the present discussion has no
sense if it isn't seen in the global context : the model of society in
most European countries is different from the American one (one
exception seems to be Thatcher who at any price wants to apply
Reaganomics to the British economy... poor British citizens ;-).
No model is perfect, and you can like one better than the other. But
as our European countries as well as the USA are democracies, the model of
society can be said to be a choice of the people in each country (all
this relatively of course...) and should be respected as such.

--- Karl Tombre @ CRIN / INRIA Lorraine
EMAIL : tombre at loria.crin.fr - POST : BP 239, 54506 VANDOEUVRE CEDEX, France