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| Issue No 36 |  |
22 October 1999 |
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Letters to the EditorVizard Critics Peddling Lies
Dear Madam/Sir, Having been to a number of the planning meetings for the ACTU computer deal, and knowing as a matter of fact that your representatives have also found their way into these meetings, I find it unbelievable that you continue to peddle something that is not factual in your publication. The statement that you will have to 'hang up' and connect to the internet using a different service provider in order to access other services and products has no basis in fact, and subsequently appears as though it has been 'made up' to further some other agenda. It has been discussed and clarified hundreds of times that the portal will certainly advertise particular, chosen sites. The access to the internet, however, will be completely free and unfettered. In the same way that 'The Age' web site doesn't have links to the 'Herald-Sun' website - this doesn't mean that people viewing 'The Age' website cannot access the 'Herald-Sun' website. I have to assume that there is some more sinister motive for your opposition to this plan than those you have publically talked about. Unless you are all just plain ignorant about the operations of the internet. You are doing irrepairable damage to the integrity of your news service by publishing such rubbish. Sincerely, Jason Cleeland Ed's Reply Our apologies. The comment made was an as yet unconfirmed report from a third party, and we should have pulled our heads in. The problem with the Virtual Communities deal is that we have found it hard to get a straight answer about how it will work. We have so far been told the following: 1. Commercial organisations will be paying large sums to become the key ecommerce vendors on the site. They will get prime position on the VC home page. A user of the site will not necessarily know that the vendors have paid VC for pole position on their union's portal. 2. The union portal will be largely controlled by a private entity, VC, that is aiming to make it's money from ecommerce and advertising sales, although unions will provide advice about content. The portal is of course separate from a union's own home page, over which they will havefull control. Our understanding is that VC will be a 'restricted' community. This is not like the 'Age site', but more like AOL, where the user navigates through a VC world with a mix of infotainment, links to member sub-sites and product sale offers from vendors, before getting to the internet. A worse scenario is that internet access beyond the VC 'world' requires jumping through significant hoops. We would like to know the true details of this key aspect, but have so far been unsuccessful in getting full disclosure. Our concern in all this is that we see the portal as the primary thing. In Sweden when the peak trade union body offered cheap computers for members they retained full control over the portal. In the US, where the AFL-CIO has just announced they will be offering union members a cheap computers and internet connection deal, they have indicated that the portal involved will be a union controlled portal. It will not sold off to a separate commercial venture. The final extraordinary aspect of the VC deal is that it provide for a five+five year (ie. 10 year life) contract with the ACTU. Extraordinary because, in the internet world, five years is a lifetime (let alone 10) , and technology, internet access and a range of things are likely to change dramatically in that time. Cheap computers - OK. Cheap internet access - OK. But retain the portal. It must be seen as core union business, not something to lease off to commercial vendors."
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