At 7:27 PM 3/14/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

The exceptions [to the general right to publish (bf)] are, first, obscenity and the like. Second, articles and advertisements are regulated in various ways as to the claims that can be made, the promises, the competitive claims, etc. Third, there are moves afoot to limit advertisements of tobacco and cigarettes in various magazines.

Mark Miller and I had a discussion about the restrictions on commercial speech a few months ago. I contended that these restrictions (generally that you can prove your claims) are good for markets because they provide startup companies (and other newcomers to the market) with a small amount of positive reputation capital that they would otherwise have to invest to obtain. Mark pointed out the superiority of non-governmental reputation agencies. I mentioned that one bad effect of "truth in commercial speech" was it resulted in people having a greater tendency to believe politicians, and we left the discussion there. In thinking back over the discussion, I would like to eliminate the restrictions without making markets less free by adding yet more barriers to market entry. We certainly need more robust reputation agencies than we have now. I just don't know how to encourage their formation. Regards - Bill BTW - I am sending a blind copy to Mark so he can maintain anonymity if he wants to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA