From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 1996 22:33:28 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: PICS is not censorship
In-Reply-To: <199612080515.VAA01745@hammerhead.com>
Message-ID: <v03007801aed2b3b732a1@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 9:15 PM -0800 12/7/96, Thaddeus J. Beier wrote:

>PICS, or something like it, is the absolutely right response to calls
>for true Internet censorship.  People agreeing to a language, a way
>of communicating, is a good thing.
>
>Did you object to HTML?  TCP/IP?  Other agreements that limited the way
>that people communicate?

These examples are essentially part of the "infrastructure." They are akin
to video tape standards (Beta vs. VHS) or t.v. formats (NTSC, PAL, SECAM).
Or to the physical and electrical standards for cable transmission.

In none of these cases is _content_ looked at. Indeed, the average user of
TCP/IP and HTML need never concern himself with such things.

PICS, on the other hand, would not be at such an "infrastructure" level, as
it would involve the human originator of a work making value judgements
about the prurient content of his work, the blasphemy quotient, perhpas,
and so forth. And, failure to make the correct value decision could
presumably expose the author/labeller to various charges (should PICS be
mandated or should the standards be implemented in civil code, etc.).

(If they are not mandated/implemented, an awful lot of folks like me are
going to deliberately label our material in various monkeywrenching and
"imp of the perverse" ways, just to watch the sparks fly.)

In any case, I don't see PICS as anything like the "infrastructure layer"
protocols of TCP/IP and HTML, just as I don't see the MPAA ratings systems
on movies as anything comparable to motion picture technical standards like
sprocket spacing, frame rates, etc.

--Tim May



--
[This Bible excerpt awaiting review under the U.S. Communications Decency
Act of 1996]
And then Lot said, "I have some mighty fine young virgin daughters. Why
don't you boys just come on in and fuck them right here in my house - I'll
just watch!"....Later, up in the mountains, the younger daughter said:
"Dad's getting old. I say we should fuck him before he's too old to fuck."
So the two daughters got him drunk and screwed him all that night. Sure
enough, Dad got them pregnant, and had an incestuous bastard son....Onan
really hated the idea of doing his brother's wife and getting her pregnant
while his brother got all the credit, so he pulled out before he
came....Remember, it's not a good idea to have sex with your sister, your
brother, your parents, your pet dog, or the farm animals, unless of course
God tells you to. [excerpts from the Old Testament, Modern Vernacular
Translation, TCM, 1996]