Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1993 21:18-EST From: Marc.Ringuette@GS80.SP.CS.CMU.EDU
Hmm..... how is this alike, and how is this different, from a hardliner NRA saying, "We should ask people to protect themselves by wearing bulletproof vests, instead of trying to ban guns"?
Ted, please don't be a bonehead on purpose. I bet you can see the difference between some bits coming down a wire and a bullet coming at you at 1000 feet per second. It has to do with the level of threat and the feasibility of protecting yourself. I'm not being a bonehead; this is a serious question! I was drawing an analogy; of course bits and bullets are different! What is the same is the philosophy of "the initiator can do know wrong"; i"it's always the receivers' problems." I am merely pointing out that your philosophy of:
What these solutions have in common is that we ask people to protect themselves, rather than requiring everyone else to adhere to their notions of good behavior.
is dangerously close, if not identical to "if the victim gets hurts it his/her fault (for not protecting him/her-self)". This logic obviously does not work for rape; whether or not someone protects herself, there are standards of conduct which say that rape is still a bad thing. The question is whether or not there are similar standards of conduct for cyberspace --- "community standards" or not. - Ted