The Big Sellout

[Lucky Green]

At 01:07 AM 7/16/97 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>For instance, Netscape Communications is expected to announce it will
>back a software standard that allows people, using a Web browser,
>either to block or select certain Web sites based on their electronic
>labels, said industry and government sources, speaking on condition of
>anonymity.

Should such a system ever see widespread use, which I doubt, I only be a
matter of days before somebody puts up pages featuring gratuitous violence,
hard-core pornography, "how to kill your parents using common household
chemicals", and pages of similar nature. At which point we will quickly
discover just how "voluntary" this "voluntary standard" is.

Sure the CDA was struck down by the Supreme Court. Would a law prohibiting
"mislabeling" of websites be struck down as well? I doubt it.



--Lucky Green <shamrock at netcom.com>
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