[ Prev|Next|Index ] by Lawrence D. Glick

   Lawrence D. Glick

     I am 47 years old and have been involved in computing for a scant 6
years.

     I have owned my own business for 25 years and since my involvement
with computers, my interests have become quite diverse, as well of those of
the rest of my family. I have met many people through the internet, most
have proved to be very nice people. My family and I have met up with
on-line friends in many places in the world. The most recent experience I
recall, is meeting a fellow scuba diver and her family in Aruba and sharing
some great times.

     I also work part time in the computer industry selling and servicing
computers. Kind of a change from manufacturing costume jewelry. I have been
involved with computer help groups through Stanford U. as well as being
involved in the Prodigy Pro group.

     Computers have made a big difference in my life.

     As far as the Decency Act goes, it is to me a bigger slap in the face
than having the government tell me to go to Viet Nam or jail. I believe in
this country and all that it was founded upon, but every once in a while
they really screw up. I think the saying is "power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutly".

     I understand the issue in wanting to protect minors from adult
material, but at what cost to the American credo. There are many protection
programs in place on both the net and home computers, so if one wishes not
to expose their children to this material, the means of accomplishing this
are readily available. But in a larger sense, nealry every video store
carries "X-rated" films and these can be rented by anyone over eighteen
years of age. There are magazines available with sexually explicit material
on millions of street corners as well as most high end bookstores. Why are
these readily available you ask? The first amendment to the constitution is
the answer. If you believe in what America stands for, how can you condone
gross censorship on a wholesale scale.

     You take some bull**** congressmen and senators trying to make points
with a fairly uninformed public and a bill like this gets passed. Most
people have no idea of the implacations that this bill pose. The precedents
being set here will definitely have Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn
out of the libraries before anyone knows what is going on. I can see the
precedents being set. Who will control the censors when we can only see
what they want us to see. Talk about altered reality, basing our reality on
what we think we know to be true now is tenuous, but soon it will be
utterly useless. I have resisted since I was in highschool and will
continue to do so till I die, if what I am resisting is something in which
I truly believe. I am proud of all who are participating in this cause, and
also proud of all that would be if they really understood the issues.

     They are not that easy to understand, when they are masked behind such
words as pornography and decency. Everyone wants to be decent, that is to
say no one or at least most people do not want to be indecent. The problem
is what other people tell you is decent or indecent is different through
every set of eyes and ears on the planet.

     SO! How can one law, in difference to all the laws upon which this
country was founded, be passed and be monitored and be expected to be
understood and obeyed, when everyones conception of its meaning is
different? I am baffeled! Truly confused, and kind of scared. I have never
really been scared of this government before. Challenged, but not scared.
What words have I used in this letter to warrant jail, or maybe it is just
my beliefs, or maybe just that I spoke out my beliefs, or more importantly,
maybe what I say today will be retroactive and used against me at a later
date when more words or ideas are deceided to be illegal.

     I don't even know what I can say, never mind what I can see.

                                Yours truly,

                                Larry Glick

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