CDR: RE: Wired News tech scorecard for U.S. House of Representatives

[David Honig]

At 01:21 AM 10/26/00 -0400, Neil Johnson wrote:
>> Its called 'parenting' but most are too busy, so they ask the State, or
>> machines (censorware, v-chips, rating systems, etc.) under others'
>control,
>> to do it instead.
>>
>
>Any parent who lets a child have a TV or a computer in their bedroom now
>days is nuts.

Yep.  And any parent who relies on v-chips is *abdicating responsibility*
by depending on someone else's ratings.  Similarly with internet
content ratings or MPAA filtering (PG vs R) or FCC filtering (content vs.
broadcast time, or their stupid labels on broadcasts).

To Bear: my reference top "machines under others' control" means
censorware which hides its list of sites from parents.

Certainly relying on other editors (filters) is useful, but parents have to
pick the editors carefully.  This is not a political but a personal
responsability issue; as far as the state goes, no filtering can be
*imposed* by others in a free society.  My point was that a parent
voluntarily chosing 
some black-box default is not doing their job.  

\begin{political} A parent forced to use filtered feeds needs to eliminate 
that force, then that imposed filter.

Anyone can open up a ratings system and filtering tools.
And they are free to have open or secret lists and rules.  You
are free to pick and choose raters you like ---just like you can
chose to eat kosher-rated, or 'organic'-rated, or whatever. 

But the filters can have no support from the State, for that is censorship.
Freedom + filters = lame parenting; 
State + filters = censorship.
\end{political}


>However, that's my responsibility as parent, and not something I desire to
>give up to anyone else non-voluntarily.

Precisely.

>As for the V-Chip. I've seen enough programs rated "For All Ages" that are
>not appropriate for  young kids to know that they are worthless. 

Yes.  

Plus the insult of being forced to pay for it.  Along with CALEA,
locatable cell phones, parental advisory labels, etc.

....

This post is rated:
	VG for reference to government violence
	NS for no spam countermeasure schemes
	NG for no mention of geodesic global economies
	NK for no observations about who needs killing
	NC for no alternate-universe mis-physics
	NE for no spurious Emily Dickinson grille ciphers