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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: MCI ad
Message-ID: <633@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 13-Apr-85 17:37:48 EST
Article-I.D.: vortex.633
Posted: Sat Apr 13 17:37:48 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Apr-85 00:32:26 EST
References: <405@nmtvax.UUCP>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 25

Hey gang... While I disdain the use of the network for commercial
advertising (of the blatant sort) as much as most other people,
remember that, given the furor that appears whenever people start
talking about "moderation," there's going to be LOTS more advertising
as time goes by.  In fact, as the network grows, I'd expect to see
a lot more blatant ads, many of which will probably be voluminous.
And you know what?  There's not a damn thing we can do about it.
So long as the newsgroups are unmoderated and allow anything and
everything to be distributed, there's no way to stop or control
any particular type of information--short of trying to cut off
the "offending" site.  And such a site could probably find some
other route to get their material into the net anyway.  

We can spout rules and regulations and try sound big and tough--but
it's all a paper tiger.  If MCI wanted to post that ad once an hour
to every newsgroup, there's practically nothing we could do about
it.  Oh sure, some people would try develop software to filter
it out, but that sort of thing would be easy to get around.

My guess is that you haven't seen anything yet when it comes to the
"commercialization" of the net.  And if you don't like it, and
you also believe that moderated newsgroups are horrors from hell,
then you have a serious conflict which may be difficult to resolve.

--Lauren--