Comments on: I fought the law… http://www.thebillblog.com/billblog/index.php/2007/11/25/i-fought-the-law/ because it alliterates, and some blogs are journalism Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:37:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: bawa http://www.thebillblog.com/billblog/index.php/2007/11/25/i-fought-the-law/comment-page-1/#comment-52946 bawa Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:32:46 +0000 http://www.thebillblog.com/billblog/index.php/2007/11/25/i-fought-the-law/#comment-52946 Hello. Just read your article on Net Divide on the BBC website, don't know if this is the right place to leave comments, but here goes. A few years ago a similar problem was detected here where I live in the Basque countries. In order to get more families on the NET, the regional government provided a 0% loan of upto 1200 Euros to buy a computer, requisites being it should have a modem and a basic internet connection. Max loan return period was 10 years, one went into any of the shops/chains (there were lots) which joined the scheme, picked a computer of choice, then took the paperwork to one of several banks, and that was it. Very simple paperwork and I took a payback time of 3 years, but that 10 year option meant that really anyone could afford it, although your income was not a consideration, just a limit of one per household. That provided a big boost to Internet use. Also, temporary "computer schools" were set up everywhere, to sign up for FREE courses, taught or self-taught CDs with supervision, of internet or e-mail use. Govt...lots of people, especially elderly and many older women, found that a friendly introduction to the Net. It was very successful. More recently, Spanish govt has come up with a similar scheme for any household with a Secondary or Higher education student. Perhaps, UK govt. could come up with something along similar lines? Hello. Just read your article on Net Divide on the BBC website, don’t know if this is the right place to leave comments, but here goes.
A few years ago a similar problem was detected here where I live in the Basque countries.
In order to get more families on the NET, the regional government provided a 0% loan of upto 1200 Euros to buy a computer, requisites being it should have a modem and a basic internet connection. Max loan return period was 10 years, one went into any of the shops/chains (there were lots) which joined the scheme, picked a computer of choice, then took the paperwork to one of several banks, and that was it. Very simple paperwork and I took a payback time of 3 years, but that 10 year option meant that really anyone could afford it, although your income was not a consideration, just a limit of one per household.
That provided a big boost to Internet use. Also, temporary “computer schools” were set up everywhere, to sign up for FREE courses, taught or self-taught CDs with supervision, of internet or e-mail use. Govt…lots of people, especially elderly and many older women, found that a friendly introduction to the Net. It was very successful.
More recently, Spanish govt has come up with a similar scheme for any household with a Secondary or Higher education student.
Perhaps, UK govt. could come up with something along similar lines?

]]> By: David Mery http://www.thebillblog.com/billblog/index.php/2007/11/25/i-fought-the-law/comment-page-1/#comment-52136 David Mery Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:45:38 +0000 http://www.thebillblog.com/billblog/index.php/2007/11/25/i-fought-the-law/#comment-52136 One effort, I recently discovered, intended primarily for campaigners is http://ngoinabox.org/?q=boxes The Spiegel (as pointed out by StateWatch) had an interesting article on the impact of the EU directive on data retention on journos at http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0%2C1518%2C514872%2C00.html br -d One effort, I recently discovered, intended primarily for campaigners is http://ngoinabox.org/?q=boxes

The Spiegel (as pointed out by StateWatch) had an interesting article on the impact of the EU directive on data retention on journos at http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0%2C1518%2C514872%2C00.html

br -d

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