On Sun, 28 Jan 1996 19:33:19 -0500, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
The New York Times, January 2, 1996, Business, p. 14
Viewpoint: J. Walker Smith
Standoff in Cyberspace Gulch
[..] [I'm going to try to make myself write a letter to the NYT in response to that viewpoint, making some of these points I'm saying it's important to make, but you should too. :) ]
Don't leave out an important point ignored by both sides of the debate all too often (esp. by the "decency" folk): the structure of the 'net itself (well, sort of). It's a decentered network (or set of networks) designed to get information to its addressee. Data flows through several nodes and networks until it reaches its destination. If it can't get through one path, it goes through the other. This isn't just for mail but all "packets" that flow on the net: web pages, file transfers, telnetting, etc. [A good segue to arguing "security related to privacy can go here...] Limiting content or access is only superficially impossible. The international scope of the 'net makes even agreeing to standards impossible.