Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!solo.csci.unt.edu!vaxb.acs.unt.edu!cirby From: cirby@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (((((C.Irby))))) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: The Global View (international BBS/EMAIL censorship) Message-ID: <1991Mar11.112006.45792@vaxb.acs.unt.edu> Date: 11 Mar 91 11:14:06 GMT References: <91069.234546SPRAGGEJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> Lines: 40 In article <91069.234546SPRAGGEJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>, SPRAGGEJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA (John G. Spragge) writes: >... one is the customs regulations, which > are intended to stop "bad stuff" at the border (customs inspectors > have no idea what a .gif file is). The other is the obscenity > laws, which are ludicrously out of date. I don't know about *your* site, but most of the gifs I've seen have been 'porn.' Some of them *very* graphic... Canadian law would certainly grab some of these. > How these laws could > be brought to bear on computers is unclear, but it is unlikely > the relevant law enforcement agencies would ever hear about the > offending material. Au contraire! All it takes is one blue-nosed 'anti-porn' person on your staff. They find a file that says something like 'hotsex.gif,' they open it up with a handy program (since most folks keep program and files in the same directory), they get offended, and they call the cops... > In the end, I suspect, the enforcement of pornography/obscenity > statutes is pretty much a dead issue, at least in the North > American culture. What the Saudis do may, of course, be different. I suppose that accounts for the recent censorship problem in those Canadian (Toronto) comic book shops? Read rec.arts.comics to follow that idea... Censorship is still with us. It's going to be a problem in the net. It's just not a major one. So far. -- |////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////| |\\\\\\| C Irby cirby@untvax cirby@vaxa.acs.unt.edu |\\\\\\| |//////| He frowns thoughtfully. "I wonder why the |//////| |\\\\\\| Fascists always have the best uniforms." |\\\\\\| |////////////////////////-Spy Magazine-//////////////////////////|