The Real Plan: Making the Net Safe for Censorship

[Eric Murray]

Declan McCullagh writes:
> 
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 14:16:47 -0500
> From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenberg at epic.org>
> To: fight-censorship at vorlon.mit.edu
> Subject: The Real Plan: Making the Net Safe for Censorship

That should be Making the Net Safe for SafeSurf.

The proposal is a classic example of "if you can't beat 'em in
the marketplace, beat 'em in the legislature".  It would require
a rating system while locking out new competition from the net
censorshipratings field.   SafeSurf operates
a ratings system.  Can you say "conflict of interest"?

Note provision 3, which stipuates that a rating must be "issued by a
ratings service that has a minimum of 5,000 documented individuals usin
its system to mark their data."

That'd kind of make it hard to start a competing ratings system, wouldn't it?


 

> Here is an example of a proposal being presented
> at the White House today.
> 
> The minds boggles at the number of unconstitutional
> provisions contained in such a brief text.
> 
> Never has a freedom won in a Supreme Court decision
> been given up so quickly.

Just like the lumber barons who destroyed vast forests for
their own profit, too many modern business people are willing
to sell out our freedoms in return for profit for themselves.


-- 
Eric Murray  ericm at lne.com  Security and cryptography applications consulting.
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