Providence (R.I.) Sunday Journal May 14, 1995 
 
DISHING OUT THE DATA TO KEEP CYBERSPACE FREE 


Journal-Bulletin Photos/RACHEL RITCHIE 

UP ON THE ROOF: Radio Free Echomail members Marshall Votta, Paul Mallett, 
Bob Kleamovich, Sheila Lennon and Bill Whitehouse pay a visit to the 
satellite dish that captures data for their service, Radio Free Echomail, 
which they offer free. [inset photo: WAYNE LISI] 


CYBERTALK By Timothy C. Barmann 

     If information is money, Sheila Lennon and Bill Whitehouse ought to 
be rich. 
     Every day, more than 12 million bytes of computer data stream into 
their East Side house from a three-foot satellite dish perched on its 
roof. 
     The Providence couple are the founders of Radio Free Echomail, a 
loose coalition of about 50 computer bulletin-board operators throughout 
New England and as far away as Arizona. 
     Formed Jan. 1, 1994, RFE shares the electronic mail and public-domain 
computer programs transmitted to Lennon and Whitehouse's satellite dish. 
     The dish collects the data that are fed into a small personal 
computer cobbled together from donated parts, which serves as the group's 
hub. The data are then passed to other members in about a dozen states by 
modem and telephone line. Where necessary, the information travels from 
bulletin board to bulletin board through an elaborate distribution system 
designed to avoid long-distance calls. 
     The electronic mail, text files and programs are the lifeblood of a 
global amateur network called "Fidonet" (as in the dog's name). Formed in 
1984, Fidonet is made up of nearly 35,000 bulletin-board operators around 
the world, most of whom are computer hobbyists, Whitehouse said. 
     RFE's Fidonet transmission originates in Newport, Tenn., and is 
beamed to a satellite hovering orbiting in space, then back to satellite 
receiving dishes all around North America. Other bulletin boards in Rhode 
Island also receive the Fidonet signal; what's different about the Radio 
Free Echomail group is that its members don't get any money for their 
trouble -- they pool their skills, time and storage capacities to 
accomplish what would require a large investment on the part of any one of 
them. 
     Instead of making a profit or breaking even by reselling the data to 
other bulletin boards, Lennon and Whitehouse give it away for free. Any 
bulletin board can join Radio Free Echomail by pledging to pass the 
Fidonet files and messages free to their own callers and to other computer 
bulletin boards they may feed. 
     Free access to information is almost a religion to Whitehouse, who 
struggles to find words to explain why it's so important. 
     "How are you going to charge for someone's ideas?" he says, referring 
to the thousands of messages distributed daily by Radio Free Echomail. 
     In a mission statement posted on their own bulletin board, "Art of 
the Possible," Whitehouse and Lennon describe it this way: "Access to the 
electronic town square is a human right." 
     And they're putting their money where their ideals are. Lennon, a 
Journal- Bulletin section editor, and Whitehouse, a freelance writer now 
devoting full time to RFE, paid $659 for the satellite dish system and pay 
a $40 monthly fee for the service - all out of their own pocket. 

Free for all 

     But Whitehouse said they're not the only ones who contribute to Radio 
Free Echomail's success. It's a cooperative effort, network, he said, 
where the members give of their own resources. 
     Several boards, for example, act as electronic libraries by storing 
classic literature texts, operating-system software or missing children 
photos distributed via Fidonet. Wayne Lisi of Warwick plays a major role 
in distributing the e-mail and software to other Radio Free Echo mail 
members, and sending RFE's replies back to Fidonet. 
     The concept behind Radio Free Echo mail is not unique. Whitehouse 
said that a number of other bulletin boards in other states also 
distribute Fidonet files for free. 
     Anyone with a computer and a modem can download Radio Free Echomail 
files and participate in Fidonet's more than 700 discussion topics by 
connecting to one of the Rhode Island member bulle tin boards, some of 
which are listed in the accompanying chart. 
     The couple say part of their mission is to curb what they see as a 
trend -- the commercialization of on-line communication. 
     "This project's loftiest goal," they write, "is to create a beachhead 
for free public access before a growing telecom munications industry sells 
our hobby out from under us." 


      Timothy C. Barmann is a Journal-Bulletin staff photographer. His 
 column runs every other Sunday on the On Line page. Comments about this 
 column or suggestions for future topics can be sent to him via e-mail at 
 tim@ids.net