Re: Protocols at the Point of a Gun

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

As required by the CDA (Competency Disclosure Act) my Ignorance bit is set
to "1" for this speculation.

At 11:03 PM 4/10/96, Lucky Green wrote:

>If my computer creates the IP packet, what is there to prevent me from
>modifying the value of the "Minor/Adult" flag at my leisure?

Are the "minor/adult" settings (and Christian/Atheist, Southern
Baptist/Reformed Baptist, Creationist/Evolutionist, etc. bits) even be
proposed to be set at the IP packet level?

I'd've thought it would be at the message level, such as this message or a
posting to Usenet. (Granted, many messages are presumably the same as IP
messages. But I'd assume that the setting would be within the message, so
that any forwarder of the packet would not be likely to tamper with
internal message settings....)

If we assume IP packet creators are altering ratings system settings, they
could just as easily be inserting CDA-violating language or images. Which
they could, unless messages were encrypted, signed, whatever.

(I'm not supporting mandatory ratings. Indeed, I oppose them.)

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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