AT&T and Unix

[W.H. Huggins]

In your recent comments, you <jpm at bnl> write:

>What I got out of his message was "AT&T is doing you all a big favor, so why
>are you biting the hand the feeds you?" My point is that AT&T isnt doing me,
>and other hackers like me, any favors with their pricing structure. I'm upset
>that Lauren makes it sound like AT&T is being nice to everybody, when in fact
>they are only doing favors for educational institutions.

A point that has not been adequately recognized in this debate is that
Educational institutions traditionally enjoy a priviledged status
in society because they contribute in ways vital to its well-being.

Schools are exempt from taxes and rely on gifts and contributions 
from individuals, corporations, foundations, and other organizations 
for the support needed to fulfill their functions.  The tuition
that you paid to your university covered only a small fraction of
what it cost the school.  Most schools desparately need such support.
Have you made any donations to your school recently?

Perhaps someday, society will come to appreciate that  hacking  is the
priviledged activity that you seem to believe, and declare that 
contributions to hackers should similarly be tax deductible.
But from the many reports that appear daily in the news media 
linking hackers to computer fraud, the most applicable exemption 
would be exemption from the law!