Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!world!lains From: lains@world.std.com (Layne L Ainsworth) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Judge for Yourself Keywords: Fact Fancy Paranoid Bizarre Message-ID: <1990Oct20.224407.23367@world.std.com> Date: 20 Oct 90 22:44:07 GMT References: <1084@lsicom2.UU.NET> <6432@hub.ucsb.edu> <1990Oct04.001804.18056@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu> Organization: The World Lines: 34 In article <1990Oct04.001804.18056@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu> zippy@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Patrick Tufts) writes: >In article <6432@hub.ucsb.edu> 6600kntp@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Kent Perrier) writes: >>Gee, the FCC sounds just like Hitlers SS. How do they define obsene(sp?)? >While schools restrict their library collections, they >are limited by 'the standards of the community'. A book that is >banned in one town can be accepted in another. > >Closer to the point of BBS's, I believe there is a law that prohibits >obscene traffic over phone lines. Now (assuming I'm right about this >law existing), the problem is, who defines obscene? > >We do. > >No, you say? The Government does? Who elected them? > >--Pat Well, there is a problem with this 'community standards' thing. The constitution was written (more precisely, the bill of rights), to protect people *from* the government, knowing that even a freely elected govern- ment would be prone to the same problems as any other. Especially when the majority of people would vote for repression of a small group. The supremacy of the rights of the individual of those of the state was thought to be of utmost importance. That's why they were so careful to insulate as much as possible the supreme court (and thus the constitution) from the political process. It is very dangerous to allow a locality to decide issues that are best answered by the constitution and the supreme court. In short, an answer to the question, 'Who elected them?': We did, and that is what I am worried about. -- Layne Ainsworth | lains@world.std.com ...!{xylogics,uunet}!world!lains What I believe (Part I): Shake well before use.