Here they come...

[dmandl@lehman.com (David Mandl)]

In today's New York Times: "Anarchy, a Threat on the Electronic
Frontier," by Peter H. Lewis.  It's kind of a scare piece on how
flame wars, abuse, and out-of-control sociopaths are destroying the
self-regulating Eden of the net.  The piece itself is more or less
"neutral," in classic NYT style, but it can also be seen as the first
rumblings of a call for some kind of "responsible regulation" of the
net.

The pedophiles we all run into by the thousands every day are
mentioned in the piece, as are the "pornographic pictures [...] traded
in great volume."  Also, "virtually every network, large and small,
has crackpots and sociopaths who seek to bully others with obscenities
and threats."  Other quotes:

"In recent months, it has become difficult for even network libertarians
to argue that the network community can resolve its problems through
peer pressure alone."

and

"[...] 'What people will probably do is invent "site kill files,"' wrote
David Hayes, a Usenet regular who works for the National Aeronautics
and Space Admistration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
[...] 'My fear is that this will be a cyber-revisiting of the blacklisting
that was prevalent in the 50's,' Mr. Hayes wrote.  'Eventually, I predict
that such site kill files will be used to censor politically unpopular
views (like mine, for example).'"

Think about that next time you put someone in your killfile.

   --Dave.