UPDATE: We will be able to distribute modems!! On Saturday, 8 Feb 2003, Randy Plessor informed us that he had talked again with a lawyer (John Freundt??) and there is no longer an objection to CFK supplying modems. Apparently the original objection was based on an understnding that CFK might be an ISP, which is not the case.

The remainder of this page dates is now out-of-date, but I will leave it here temporarily pending potential future refactoring to maintain the arguments for supplying modems.

I understand that RandyPlessor has discussed the supply of modems with someone and a decision has been made that, primarily for legal liability reasons, modems will not be supplied.

I'd like to see that decision revisited. I think the biggest draw for children (at least of a certain age) is the potential for email, surfing the web (which also has an educational benefit), instant messaging and so forth. Providing computers without that capability will lead to less interest.

Ideally, I'd like to see computers supplied with modems and enabled.

At the very least, if a donated computer came with a modem, we should leave it installed even if we don't provide the software / setup to make it functional. (At least the possibility exists to make it functional in the future.)

Is it practical to get the parents / guardians of a child to sign a disclaimer that will protect CFK from legal liability for any "damage" a child may suffer on the Internet?

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Notes

Contributors

• () RandyKramer - 11 Dec 2002
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