IP: What Thimbleby Hath Wraught

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: 23 Sep 95 19:40:05 EDT
From: Jan Ziff <72662.3351 () compuserve com>
To: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>


Dave:




I saw the piece Bernard Levin referred to when I was in London last May.


It was in the Evening Standard or some such newspaper, and the comment that the
Internet
was "absolute dynamite and ...without any form of quality control" was made
by the senior police officer who was investigating the story about the six boys
who'd used the 'Net to organize the credit card scam. What Mr. Levin omits is
that in the same sentence the police officer also called the Internet "a
ridiculous system."


I found that story absolutely infuriating - so much so that I wrote the
following piece for
my radio program on the CBS network when I came back from London:




CRIME ON THE INTERNET


THIS IS SOUND*BYTES AND I'M JAN ZIFF




POLICE IN ENGLAND ARE WORRIED THAT KIDS USING THE INTERNET MAY BE LEARNING TO
COMMIT SERIOUS CRIMES. AND THEY SAY THE WORLDWIDE COMPUTER NETWORK CONTAINS ALL
SORTS OF MATERIAL KIDS SHOULD NOT ACCESS - INCLUDING BOMB-MAKING INSTRUCTIONS,
PORNOGRAPHY, HOW TO COMMIT SUICIDE AND HOW TO COMMIT CREDIT CARD FRAUD.


A SENIOR LONDON POLICE OFFICER DESCRIBED THE  INTERNET AS "A RIDICULOUS SYSTEM,
DYNAMITE AND WITHOUT ANY FORM OF QUALITY CONTROL."


I THINK IT'S VERY SAD. I KNOW ITS HARD TO CONTROL THE BEHAVIOUR OF ALL OUR KIDS,
BUT TO BLAST THE INTERNET BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF A FEW ... IS TANTAMOUNT TO
SAYING YOU SHOULDN'T FLY BECAUSE A) YOU MIGHT GET HIJACKED OR B) YOUR KIDS MIGHT
THINK HIJACKING IS SO GLAMOUROUS THEY WANT TO DO IT TOO.


ONCE AGAIN IT'S UP TO US. IF AS PARENTS, EDUCATORS AND ROLE MODELS WE CAN'T SHOW
OUR KIDS THE RIGHT WAY - IT'S LUDICROUS TO BLAME A COMPUTER NETWORK FOR WHAT'S
REALLY OUR FAILURE.


I'M JAN ZIFF WITH SOUND*BYTES




Bernard Levin used to be one of my favourite columnists, (you may have noticed
from my occasional transatlantic spelling that I am originally British), but he
really shows his ignorance in the piece you've circulated. It does him no
credit, in fact, it serves only to reinforce my most basic tenet in life - "It
is far better to keep your mouth shut and be thought to be a fool, than to open
it and prove it beyond all reasonable doubt."


Levin clearly does not understand, nor from this piece is he willing to try.
Pushing the edges of the envelope may be fine for him when his subject is
literary or music criticism, and political commentary on which his work is both
erudite and intelligent.  But let him loose in a world with which he is clearly
not familiar, and which he mistakenly thinks most people don't understand - and
he renders himself ridiculous - not the Internet.


The "older generation" of commentators seem to believe that theirs is the only
view that's worth having - probably because they've been there so long. Mr.
Levin should stick to subjects he knows something about. And while he's at it,
he should remember one of the basic precepts of journalism - if you're going to
quote someone, do it accurately and with attribution.


Another sacred cow gone - ah well, I must be growing old!!


Best as ever


Jan