*BSD News Article 65746


Return to BSD News archive

Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.osf.misc,comp.unix.sco.misc,comp.security.firewalls,comp.unix.admin,comp.org.usenix,comp.org.uniforum,comp.dcom.net-management,comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip,comp.os.netware.misc,comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip,alt.dcom.telecom
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!inferno.mpx.com.au!news.mel.aone.net.au!imci4!imci3!imci2!news.internetMCI.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!EU.net!sun4nl!west.nl!gertjan
From: gertjan@West.NL (Gertjan van Oosten)
Subject: Re: Communications Decency Act may corrupt protocols
Message-ID: <DpqsB1.L3A@west.nl>
Followup-To: comp.society.futures
Sender: gertjan@west.nl (Gertjan van Oosten)
Organization: West Consulting B.V., Delft, The Netherlands
References: <4ki6d6$ln7@newsserv.cs.sunysb.edu> <4kj4ki$s8b@doffen.uninett.no>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 09:13:40 GMT
Lines: 25
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.protocols.tcp-ip:43748 comp.unix.bsd.misc:710 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2927 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17167 comp.unix.osf.misc:3014 comp.unix.sco.misc:16160 comp.security.firewalls:1968 comp.unix.admin:40573 comp.org.usenix:5510 comp.org.uniforum:531 comp.dcom.net-management:2398 comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip:21974 comp.os.netware.misc:23932 comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip:47739 alt.dcom.telecom:16705

Ketil Albertsen (ketil.albertsen@idb.hist.no) writes:
> [sayre@cs.sunysb.edu:]
> > the U.S. Department of Justice is apparently considering recommending
> > that ALL packet traffic on the Internet contain a bit or flag of some
> > kind indicating its "decency" status - it would be _integrated into the
> > protocol architecture at the network level_.
> 
> The next logical step would of course be to add decency indicator bits
> to phone traffic as well - packet data may also be transferred across
> phone lines. But even other kinds of data transfer - say, digitized 
> speech - may have indecent contents.

Why stop there?  We'll all be walking around with vocoders that blank
our speech when we say something rude, with earphones that block our
ears when indecent sounds are received and shutters before our eyes when
there's something indecent to see.  If touch and smell are included as
well, we'll be wearing harnesses and noseplugs.

When that happens we'll probably all be speaking Newspeak (the term
'political correctness' didn't exist yet in 1948...).

Note the follow-ups.

-- 
-- Gertjan van Oosten, gertjan@West.NL, West Consulting B.V.