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Net Gains (Dec 31, 96)
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For the first time, I'm ashamed to say that I'm a citizen of cyberspace.
Just yesterday while randomly surfing about, I came across a so
called cook - book (size 103 KB). This so called cookbook had
detailed ways and means for Counterfeiting Money, Credit Card
Fraud, picking locks, making bombs from CO2 and bleach.
You could also learn to make paint bombs, letter bombs, fertilizer
bombs, tennis ball bombs, diskette bombs & light bulb bombs.
There are also ways and means to create trouble at school, to
indulge in phone vandalism, jam cops wireless sets, vandalise
cars - you name it, it's there. To top it all, the author ends
with a cheeky "Have fun !" Put this information
in the wrong hands, and the Mumbai Bomb Blasts will be peace &
harmony compared to what could be unleashed. Forgive me, I know
this is the season of peace and goodwill - but for once I'm actually
wishing that someone tries some of these recipes listed - on the
author of the cookbook. For the first time, I'm deviating from
my practice of giving readers the URL of the site I'm talking
about - for obvious reasons.
But for the big wigs in Washington this kind of material is trivial
as compared to the pornography they spend their time and energy
trying to curtail. On February 8, US President Clinton signed
into law as part of the telecommunications reform law, the Communications
Decency Act which forbids the distribution of obscene or indecent
material through the Internet or on-line services to minors. Violators
could be fined as much as $250,000 or sentenced to two years in
prison. World Wide Web pages operated by critics of the Telecommunications
Act put blue ribbons or black background on their sites as a sign
of protest. Junta immediately went up in arms and into
the US courts challenging the new law. That's the standstill situation
where the case stands today as of today.
The question that arises is who defines what "indecent"
means ? By invoking the overboard and vague term "indecent"
as the standard by which electronic communication should be censored,
the law has insured that information providers seeking to avoid
perceived liability and criminal prosecution will close the gates
on anything but the most tame information and discussions. This
would turn the Internet from one of the greatest resources of
cultural, social and scientific information into the online equivalent
of the children's reading room.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes
that personal and parental choice is the best filtering mechanism
of content on the Internet. To illustrate just how far US Congress
may have gone in taking the power of choice away from the family,
EFF has compiled a small sample of sites that may fall victim
to the Telecommunications Act. The list ranges from Renaissance
art to discussion of safe sex. It includes federally funded resources
and lyrics to songs played on radio stations across the Unites
States. It's worth taking a look at their list
. For those without Internet connections, this list includes sites
like Michelangelo's David,
Michele Tosini's Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist,
Mark Twain's -The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
The King James Bible,
The HIV InfoWeb,
and lyrics of Alanis Morissette, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, & Smashing
Pumpkins, among others.
A column like this one, can't have an ending - I won't even attempt
to end it. Let's all hope and pray for a better 1997!