Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!uhnix1!sugar!ficc!karl From: karl@ficc.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) Newsgroups: news.groups Subject: alt.sex.bondage (was Re: Censorship) Message-ID: Date: 23 Jan 90 18:47:43 GMT References: Reply-To: karl@ficc.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) Organization: Ferranti International Controls Lines: 37 In article maffray@richelieu.rutgers.edu (Frederic Maffray) writes: >From: brian@radio.astro.utoronto.ca (Brian Glendenning) >Recently there was a fantasy posted in alt.sex.bondage that involves >the rape and torture of an unwilling victim. ... >If nothing else, were the new media to find this story I >rather suspect that it would make the fuss over rec.humor.funny of a >while back look like small potatoes. The article in question is: >Message-ID: <1447@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> I know "Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted" is a long-running joke, and I too am quick to (at least privately) ridicule people who post stuff like that, but I think this a.s.b story, "Cindy's Torment," could cause a lot of problems for the net, like some underage kid is going to read it, his or her parents find out and go bananas. Being against this stuff is like being against drugs -- it's real easy to be righteous and anybody who's not as against it as you are can be attacked as being for it. I think the weight of the state may come down hard against it because it *is* a genuine source of outrage to a lot of people. Next thing you know, some two-bit District Attorney decides to make a name for himself by branding me (or you) a pornographer (my system, sugar, carries alt groups). Under RICO, it would be possible for them to confiscate every piece of electronic equipment I own. It might not be the end of the net, but it could well be the end of alt, and the beginning of a bunch of entanglements for some of us that we neither have the time, resources or inclination to endure. It could also be the end of unmoderated groups -- I'm not saying it will be, but I see it as a possibility. Remember what they did to Jello Biafra. Remember the PMRC. Remember the phone companies getting sued over the content of 900 numbers. We're not the phone company; if we had their resources we might be able to prevail and get usenet declared a common carrier, which it seems to me that it is, but on the deep pocket theory, the most litigious and committed people will be allowed to define what we are because none of us have or will commit the resources to stop them...and we may not like the results. -- -- uunet!ficc!karl "...as long as there is a Legion of super-Heroes, uunet!sugar!karl all else can surely be made right." -- Sensor Girl