(Please forward as appropriate) Exactly a year ago the Universal Access-Canada List was launched. So I thought it a good time to send the invitation around again to see if others might be interested in joining our conversation. The list has been an active and interesting one and among the highlights was the official launch and discussion of the Canadian Consumers Communications Charter, a useful discussion on access for the physically challenged and for those in rural areas and of modest income. Among the other issues "addressed" have been privacy, copyright protection, Access in other and particularly countries of the south The issues for which the list was formed have not gone away and if anything they have become more acute as the Internet has surged into more significant and broader roles in the working and everyday lives of many people. UA-C is the forum for Canadians (and those with an interest in Canadian developments) to discuss the broader policy issues of which we as users of the these marvellous opportunities must be aware and which we as consumers and as citizens should be discussing and making our opinions known. Those of you who already subscribe, thanks and apologies for the repetition. regs Mike Gurstein ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 18:02:59 -0400 (AST) From: Michael Gurstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: canada-l <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Universal Access-Canada List There is, as most of you know, on-going discussion about the need for ensuring very widespread (universal) access to the emerging Information Highway/Network. A series of "expert" panels have been undertaken by the Information Policy Research Group of the University of Toronto to discuss these issues in the Canadian context. The results of these discussions can be found at <http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/research/iprp/ua/>. However the Information Highway Advisory Council's Final Report stated: "Telecommunications policy and regulation have typically addressed the issue of access and universality in terms of simple network access. Broadcasting policy and regulation have usually viewed access in relation to both broadcast signals and programming services. Neither model seems adequate in the new environment. Markets and technologies are now evolving so rapidly and their impacts are so pervasive that new approaches may well be needed to meet critical social, economic and cultural needs. "The fundamental social and economic transformations accompanying Canada's transition from an industrial to a knowledge society underscore the need to focus on access viewpoints beyond those of the federal government and the usual participants in the CRTC regulatory process. This argument becomes even more persuasive when one considers that federal, provincial, and territorial governments are turning ever more to the electronic delivery of servies. Access to Information Highway services may well become critical to full participation and, indeed the exercise of democratic citizenship in a knowledge society." (p.55) To subscribe to the list Universal Access-Canada send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] message: subscribe UA-C <your name>
