sent this to Brock Meeks re: his latest column I also ask cpunks not to harass these companies or their users-- it's a solution that's working. ------- Forwarded Message To: brock@well.com Subject: cyber blocking software Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 12:48:49 -0700 From: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com> I read your columns regularly. outstanding work. regarding your recent dispatch: please do not harass the blocking software companies too much. they are simply based on a different premise than the regular net. the internet starts out with, "everybody can access everything". they start out with, "only stuff we approve of can be accessed". what their system shows is that you will always have disagreement and controversy whenever this software is employed, whereever subjectivity is involved. it is a very legitimate and worthwhile service for parents who would rather "err on the side of caution". but far better to have these organizations arguing & bickering with who they censor than to have the people who are censored suing the government. the people who want free net access have it, and are unbothered by these controversies. in other words, by moving the controversies to places where they are locally contained (i.e. among the blockers and blockees) the rest of the surfing public is unaffected and perhaps even protected from harassment. so you see? there is all kinds of ranting about censorship going on, but it has nothing to do with the way the vast majority uses the internet. it's completely voluntary. it's the perfect solution. so far, nothing the blocking companies do can affect the net as a whole. they are largely predicated on that function. in a real sense they are providing very general services of "rating web sites our customers will be most interested in". and you realize, even the Point Communications awards are the exact same thing. so again, please do not harass the companies. it's a solution that does work. the existence of controversy does not prove it doesn't work. it in fact proves that it does work. ------- End of Forwarded Message