Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: ISPs Agree to Block Access to C-Porn Web Sites and Usenet Groups
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:50:45 -0700
________________________________________ From: Andrew C Burnette [acb () acb net] Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 3:42 PM To: David Farber; Lauren Weinstein Subject: Re: [IP] ISPs Agree to Block Access to C-Porn Web Sites and Usenet Groups Dave, Lauren, As Tommy Lee Jones said in the movie "Men in Black" "A person is smart, people are stupid." somehow Miriam Webster should include that quote alongside the definition of the term pandering. Best regards, andy David Farber wrote:
Laurens comments also reflect my fears every time the Hill starts to touch the net. In the NetNeu rush to get the Hill, as an example, to pass laws people forget that once the politicians get the smell of the net blood, they will feast on it and pass laws that appeal to their voters or their funders last and furiously. Dave ________________________________________ From: Lauren Weinstein [lauren () vortex com] Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:08 AM To: David Farber Cc: lauren () vortex com Subject: ISPs Agree to Block Access to C-Porn Web Sites and Usenet Groups ISPs Agree to Block Access to C-Porn Web Sites and Usenet Groups http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000389.html Greetings. As this New York Times article ( http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/nyregion/10internet.html ) notes in passing, and I would suggest much more forcefully, efforts by ISPs to cut off access to any particular class of content may make it more difficult for "casual" searchers to access such sites, but will likely be largely ineffective against anyone with the will to work a bit harder to find such material -- and that's not even taking into account private, encrypted distribution networks. Of broader interest perhaps is how much time will pass before "other entities" demand that ISPs (attempt) to block access to other materials that one group or another feels subscribers should not be permitted to see or hear. How long before search engines are urged, pressured, or ordered to remove search result listings that the government or other groups deem inappropriate under the political criteria of the moment? In practice, of course -- as I've written many times -- effective censorship of the Internet is impossible. You can make access more difficult or more of a hassle, but in the end censorship efforts -- even for seemingly laudable goals -- will drive the materials of interest ever deeper underground into forms that make them even more difficult to track. That's just the way it is, like it or not. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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Current thread:
- ISPs Agree to Block Access to C-Porn Web Sites and Usenet Groups David Farber (Jun 10)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: ISPs Agree to Block Access to C-Porn Web Sites and Usenet Groups David Farber (Jun 10)
- Re: ISPs Agree to Block Access to C-Porn Web Sites and Usenet Groups David Farber (Jun 11)