roundtable: Re: Censorship and pornography

roundtable: Re: Censorship and pornography

Re: Censorship and pornography

dmendoza@tmn.com
Wed, 22 Mar 1995 06:37:39 GMT 

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 06:37:39 GMT
Message-Id: <199503220637.GAA26905@purple.tmn.com>
From: dmendoza@tmn.com
To: roundtable@cni.org
Subject: Re: Censorship and pornography


Original Message(s):
>Date:         Tue, 21 Mar 95 05:23:46 EST
>From:         "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@MITVMA>
>Subject:      Re: Censorship and pornography
>To:           Telecomm Policy Roundtable - Northeast <TPR-NE@MITVMA>
>In-Reply-To:  Message of Mon, 20 Mar 1995 07:20:22 -0800 from
> <nelson@NORTHCOAST.COM>
>
>>way the directories of sensitive material arenamed. Any newsgroup with
>>often quetionable material should have in itsname ".X.". So,
>> ALT.SEX.BANANAS would be renamed ...
>
>I laud this suggestion.  If we look at the story of X rated films and
>the legacy of the Surgeon General's warnings on cigaretts, this would
>fit well with our liberty of free speech and our concern for informing
>users.
>
>The music industry has been an interesting case.  Tipper Gore suggested
>some form of censorship in the 1980's.  In particular, some rap music
>had become very explicit.  I haven't seen, however, that the musicc
>industry went to any rating system (have they?)
>
>Certainly one of the first questions when we talk about community access
>to the Internet is, "will my kid be able to download pornography?"
>
>A "very reliable" solution is necessary and, as Nelson suggests, this
>should be done in advance of government censorship which is likely to
>be more onerous.
>
>_______________________________________________________________________________
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The recording industry responded to Tipper Gore with the "Parental
Advisory Labels."  And some zealots have tried to pass legislation that
would criminalize the sale of thusly labeled recordings by record store
owners.  Of course, parents don't buy their kid's CDs anyway.

Like these labels, "Xs" on things would serve as an advertisement to 
kids that this is the "cool stuff" -- we are all, after all, drawn to 
what is forbidden.  The question is (as has  been stated already) who 
is the "Decency Czar" that determines what is over the line; who draws 
the line?  Like the technology that would allow parents to block 
certain programs form coming into their homes via TV (for violence or 
whatever), this technology is surely down the road for on-line systems, 
too. The question then is, will parents bother.

I have already commented previously on the issue of "decency" and the
government vis a vis Finley v. NEA (the lawsuit against the NEA which
successfully -- so far-- challenged the "decency standards" imposed on 
NEA funding by Congress).

As you have undoubtedly noticed somewhere, porn outlets heap on the "Xs"
as marketing devices.

David Mendoza
Natl Campaign for Freedom of Expression
<dmendoza@tmn.com>

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