Censorware Summit 2.0, from The Netly News

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

[For details on some of the proposals presented, read the full article.
--Declan]

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http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1608,00.html

The Netly News Network (http://netlynews.com/)
December 2, 1997

Censorware Summit 2.0
by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)

        If there's one political controversy that promises never to die,
   it's sex and the Net. There seems to be something about the
   combination of children and cyberporn that makes otherwise levelheaded
   adults more than a little worried -- and even a little irrational.

        Enter the politicans, always happy to pacify parents with
   soothing rhetoric. Vice President Al Gore is scheduled to speak this
   morning at a two-day summit dedicated to protecting kids online.

        Of course, the Communications Decency Act's backers had claimed
   that that particularly nasty law (which the Supreme Court found to be
   unconstitutional) did just that. They were joined by the White House,
   which two years ago said "the President firmly supports the
   Communications Decency Act" to "regulate the exposure of children to
   computer pornography."

        This time, however, the White House would like to avoid the same
   embarrassing mistakes -- and, perhaps more importantly, would like to
   avoid pissing off high tech firms that could be hefty campaign
   contributors to Al Gore 2000. Instead of endorsing new federal
   legislation, the Clinton administration says it'll oppose it as long
   as industry regulates itself. And, of course, if firms play ball,
   their CEOs get to share the limelight with the veep

[...]