[Prev| Next| Index] 23rd February 1996, Dave Durant, New Southgate, London, United Kingdom. [Image] 24hrs in Democracy [Image] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A big "hi" to everyone out there ! "What on Earth is this ?" I hear you ask. Well it all started back before Christmas when I read about the ridiculous Martin Rimm Report about pornography on the 'net. "There'll be a lot more like that in the months / years to come" I thought. As the 'net moves from being a system used only by scientists, academics and hackers (the original meaning of the word) to an open forum used by millions of people world wide, such sweeping generalizations will often be made by people who have very little understanding of the on-line world. Because of this I kept half an eye of the Electronic Freedom Foundation. Which, in turn, lead me to discover the problem with the Communications Decency Act in the American Telecommunications Act of 1996. You might think that this is a lot of effort to go to over the simple mistake of using "indecent" rather than "obscene" but have a look at some of the works that could be banned under the new law. "So what ?" Is the next thing. I'm not American - this law doesn't even apply to me ! No - this is true however this is the first time that a big legal case about freedom of speech has been applied to the internet and it is important to get it right first time ! My home internet service provider, CompuServe, has got it right with their Parental Controls. That is the better way to go about things. Parents blocking out the things that their kids shouldn't see rather than a blanket ban seriously restricting free speech. So we can see that E.F.F. has got it all in hand and we can go back to what we were doing before - right ? Well - not quite yet. This is perhaps the best chance in years for the on-line community to get its' voice heard. Ok - it may be after the fact but the more raised voices the better chance we have of putting in right ! I'm sure that it won't be long before similar laws are applied in the United Kingdom and I hope that the government learn from the problems of the American legislative. Now is the time to make a stand. Netscape and Yahoo already mark their pages why not do the same to yours ? At the same time why not follow the example of Bill Gates and put up your own "24 hours of Democracy" page ? * If you are American write to your congressman. * If you are British I would advise you to contact the person in the government responsible for the internet - except that after spending an hour hunting I cannot find out who this is ! Instead why not try The Conservative Party, The Labour Party and The Liberal Democrats. * Write to your company, I'll be writing to Nortel, and ask them their position. * Write to your internet service provider, such as CompuServe or Demon in the UK, and ask them why they don't have a blue ribbon on their home page. * Write to the big companies that have profited from the internet like IBM, Sun, HP, Lycos, Infoseek, etc and ask them the same. * Lastly write to the people who have made the net what it is over the years and ask their opinion. People like Vint Cerf, Marc Anderson or Tim Berners-Lee for example. I was on the 'net from years back when my access was a 2,400 baud modem logging on British Telecom's "Prestel" system in 1986. I've seen it grow to one of the most powerful means of expression on the planet undefeated by international borders, politics, race, religion, sex, disability or even time itself. Everyone on the World Wide Web is currently seen as equal from IBM to my employers Nortel to my mate Nic down to me. We each have our own independent equal voice unrestricted by law - lets keep it that way. I'll leave you with my favorite quote. I think it describes the internet perfectly. "Speak for yourself, someone will listen" : Gary Moore. [Image] This © rambling was brought to you by Dave Durant on Friday the 23rd of February 1996. We hope you enjoyed the show.