From: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 09:47:02 +0800
To: frogfarm@yakko.cs.wmich.edu
Subject: Re: Surf-filter lists
In-Reply-To: <199607160541.BAA11900@yakko.cs.wmich.edu>
Message-ID: <199607161804.LAA26399@netcom18.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



>
>Vlad: How can consumers make an informed decision as to which filter
>they wish to purchase, if they are not told exactly what information
>each product is filtering out?
>
>Meeks et al may be guilty of flamboyant, emotionalistic prose, but I
>find the concept that the public is expected to buy various filters
>without knowing what they filter...frankly, ridiculous.

there's significant ambiguity in your language. what actually constitutes 
knowing or not knowing what is being filtered?

Meeks discussed a case where the software clearly gave *categories*
of what it filtered, and I think he focused on a case where it
was clear that it was borderline (the monkey with the eye poked
out). in other words, it did appear to me that the software &raters
were working exactly as they were supposed to, and he was hilighting
a borderline case. moreover, the categories were clear: "gratuitous
depictions of violence" or whatever. for *some* consumers, knowledge
of these *categories* is going to be enough. other consumers
are going to be more wary and want to make sure that the actual
sites blocked correspond to the categories stated.

in general, though, I think many consumers do not want to know
in exact detail what specific web sites are being blocked. that's
what they're paying the company for: to hide that information from
them in a sense so they don't have to deal with the complexity of
it.

my position could be misconstrued. it is: let the consumer *decide*.
this is already happening. they are putting their money where they
think superior services are. what Meeks has discovered is a new
criteria that customers *may* want to pay more attention to: how
well what the companies "say" they are doing matches what they
are actually blocking. but then again, consumers are always going
to have to place some amount of trust in these companies. the
market is in the process of deciding right now.

Meeks seems to have the opinion, "the site-blocking software is
not legitimate unless they fully publicize their lists". this
is a decision the market will make. I fully expect that both
types of services will flourish in the future (open and closed
lists), and each have their particular roles and areas of specialty.