Collins Richey wrote:
On 4/21/06, Declan McCullagh <[email protected]> wrote:
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6063554.html
Gonzales calls for mandatory Web labeling law
April 20, 2006, 11:35 PM PDT
Web site operators posting sexually explicit information must place
official government warning labels on their pages or risk being
imprisoned for up to five years, the Bush administration proposed Thursday.
A mandatory rating system will "prevent people from inadvertently
stumbling across pornographic images on the Internet," Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales said at an event in Alexandria, Va.
I must be too much of an old fogey. I say right on. I know that there
are those of you on the list who will regard such an act as "further
dilution of our civil liberties, etc., etc.". The mind boggles that no
one has proposed such legislation before now. Certainly this
legislation can only control sites that are located within the US, but
it's a start to the process of controlling the crap on the internet.
Now if they can just devise penalties for those who fill my inbox with
"enlargement " offers and the latest and greatest mortgage schemes!
It certainly has been proposed before, the 'V' chip for television.
History is full of examples of good folk saying "Right On!" to efforts
to limit the speech of others. At first, because the speech is
deliberately designed to offend society, later because the speech is
offensive to me. If history is a guide, I don't want to live in those
states! (two examples: Modern Russia under Putin; Germany before WWII)
There is also the matter of practicality, I am reminded of the mice
deciding to bell the cat. Great idea. Our native spam and porn
industries have been very successful at moving servers (barely) offshore
to avoid US laws. Give me one good reason why it will work better this
time.
It is always the same. DRM is DRM is DRM. It is always bad because the
only folk who lose anything are the honest ones. The pirates will
always have ways to get around it, so they just don't care. I say
resist DRM under all circumstances. It is simpler and cheaper, in the
long run.
-- Alma
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