IP: Internet Strikers Protest High Cost of Access

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

For the complete story see

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/cyber/articles/25strike.html

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Internet Strikers Protest High Cost of Access

By MATT RICHTEL 

        
</NYT_INLINEIMAGE In order to express their frustration with the high cost of Internet access, students, academics and other cybercitizens around the world have engaged in a series of digital-era protests: they have shut off their modems and darkened their Web pages in daylong boycotts. 
In recent months, these organized "Internet strikes" have taken place in France, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and China, involving thousands of protesters. 

"The Internet should be accessible for everyone," said Soeren Frey, a university student in Germany who joined a virtual sit-in there in early November by shutting down his Web site. "We want to force the monopolist to lower the local rates or introduce a special Internet fee."