From: mpd@netcom.com (Mike Duvos)
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 94 10:20:54 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Children and the Net
In-Reply-To: <9407311612.AA06271@snark.imsi.com>
Message-ID: <199407311720.KAA03972@netcom14.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Perry E. Metzger <perry@imsi.com> writes:

 > A society that forceably prevents fundamentalists from
 > brainwashing their children also has the right tools to
 > keep me from explaining to my children why government is
 > evil and why there is no god.

The cure for brainwashing is not to silence the brainwasher, but
to make sure the intended victim is exposed to a wide variety of
other viewpoints.  We can cure the children of Fundamentalists
quite easily without preventing their parents, or you for that
matter, from expressing any point of view you choose.  Truth
usually wins over bullshit when both are equally illuminated in
public view.

I would certainly oppose any law which said that parents could
completely control a minor's access to information in order to
make sure that the parent's perspective was the only one
presented.

Very young children need to be protected from graphically violent
material which they might find disturbing.  Other than this, I am
not sure any censorship on the Net is appropriate.

Kids experiencing the Net for the first time are perfectly safe
if they follow some simple guidelines.

     1. Never give out personal information like your name,
        address, or phone number to strangers.

     2. Check all information obtained from the Net with a
        trusted person before acting on it.

     3. Change the channel if someone interacts with you in
        a way you find crude and offensive.

One should remember that a kid sitting in his living room at a
computer is perfectly safe in physical sense.  There is nothing
bytes of data can do to harm him.  As long as he does not
volunteer inappropriate information to strangers, he can cruise
to his heart's content without fear of unwanted consequences, and
learn all sorts of interesting things in the process.

 > I oppose any attempt to prevent free speech on the net in
 > order to cater to the needs of fundamentalists, but I also
 > oppose vehemently any attempt to make them conform in the
 > education of their children with YOUR view of what is right
 > and wrong.

I certainly agree with this in terms of the censorship issue.

 > I feel that it is perfectly fine if they produce bowlderized
 > and censored net links for their kids -- I just don't want
 > them changing the structure of everyone else's life in order
 > to do it.

They can just use America Online.  It comes pre-bowlderized and
pre-censored right out of the box.

 > Mr.  Zooks has a perfect right to raise his children any way
 > he likes that is not inconsistant with the wishes of his
 > children, and I do not want to see you or anyone else
 > telling him what to do, just as I do not want Mr. Zooks
 > telling US what to do.

It's the wishes of the children that tend to be overlooked when
the Funny Mentalists are having their legislative orgy.

-- 
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd@netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $