[8902] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: What Will It Take To Educate TV About the Net?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ed Tully)
Sat Dec 11 04:13:09 1993
From: tully@cscns.com (Ed Tully)
To: postman@lists.psi.com (Dave Hughes)
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 93 2:09:41 MST
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <m0p8En1-000A3DC@oldcolo.com>; from "Dave Hughes" at Dec 10, 93 1:50 pm
While I basically agree with you, Dave, I think you must admit there is a
dark side to the net for 6-10 year olds. Access providers should begin
offering access only to 18 year olds on some of the newsgroups. And
further require access to them by anybody with a written request and
feedback verification. I am not a prude, but I certainly am concerned about
school children, particularly the younger ones, reading some of the
raunchier news groups. I do a lot of work with schools, as I know you do,
and that is a seriuos holdup of universal application in many school
districts. I don't have an answer, but I certainly recognize the problem -
as did Prime Time - and as big a fan as I am of the Net, one kid is worth
10 nets - especially if the kid was mine or my grandchild. Our society has
a majority of latchkey kids. parents cannot watch them 24 hours a day.
Could be a real trouble spot. And please, no flames on censorship or
yellow journalism advocate junk mail. If we want universal access to the
little kids, recognize the problem and solve it. We won't do business on
the net with people who advertise a legitimate business - yet we turn our
heads and ignore this problem. That strikes me as strange as the front page
of a local newspaer depicting the Hubbel Rescue on one half the page and the
dying homeless on the other half - and I don't think anyone noticed the
stark contrast!
Ed Tully
