Re: TECH: Is PICS a threat to Free Speech?

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@calweb.com)
Sat, 28 Jun 1997 17:02:03 -0700 (PDT)

> It seems we have a misunderstanding. I know that the intent of PICS is
> to give the user freedom to filter whatever they want. And that is not
> my concern. My point is that I have heard that PICS can be used to
> censor OTHER people! . . .

Then you heard wrong. PICS cannot /itself/ censor anything; a PICS
bureau is a source of information, nothing more. It is the /users/
of that information who can use it to censor if they desire, but one
cannot blame a technology for its misuse. To paraphrase the NRA on
that subject: PICS doesn't censor people, people censor people.

-- 
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com>  <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC