[1437] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
So what is the answer?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Abernathy)
Tue Oct 8 14:40:44 1991
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 91 13:29:55 CDT
From: edtjda@magic322.chron.com (Joe Abernathy)
To: comp-academic-freedom-talk@eff.org
Cc: com-priv@psi.com, connie.stout@tenet.edu, cosndisc@bitnic.BITNET,
Let me pose a question for you.
The Texas Education Agency recently granted
Internet access to everyone in Texas affiliated
with education -- classrooms, teachers, administrators,
parents, etc.
It took about two days for them to have a "major
porno incident" that ended with them shutting down
the news feed; and for now, students will not be
allowed their own accounts. Obviously, shutting down
usenet doesn't bar access to the lively material.
In the two years since I started looking, I still
haven't found an answer that addresses everyone's
concerns on this topic. How does one introduce
Internet to children in a socially acceptable,
responsible fashion? What's the answer? Free speech is a
powerful argument, but please conside the reality
that you're preparing an argument for a school board.
School boards don't care a whit for free speech if they
think it might be a defense for something that has a
potentially negative effect on young people.
And the oft-touted comparison of Internet to a library
also has problems when held up against daylight. No
matter what one argues, libraries outside of San
Francisco usually do not carry material as explicit
as that found in alt.sex.bondage or Modern Primitives,
for instance. In test after court test, it has been
decided that media which circulate in Peoria,
Kansas, have to meet the community standards of
Peoria. Or wherever.
Thank you for your thoughtful replies. I'm inquiring
for the purpose of publication; please specifically
state if you do not wish to be quoted. Pornography
is not the focus of the article(s); one is a discussion
of computer networking in K-12; another is a survey of
resources available on Internet for amateur and young
scientists. The editor of that magazine had an interesting
statement when I called to query the article: "Yes, I'm
quite interested in the net, but isn't it full of trash?
Sure wouldn't want my kids on there."
Please feel free to redistribute this posting.
Best Regards,
Joe Abernathy edtjda@chron.com
Special Projects P.O. Box 4260
The Houston Chronicle Houston, Texas 77210
(800) 735-3820 (713) 526-9711
