Re: ACLU Opposes Exon-Like Speech Crimes in Managers Amend. to House Telco Bill

[Carl Ellison <cme@TIS.COM>]

>Date: Thu, 3 Aug 1995 11:06:19 -0400
>From: ACLUNATL@aol.com

>					The amendment would have the
>effect of actually usurping control from parents in favor of a government
>approval panel.

Anecdote:

	I was in Cambridge MA this past weekend visiting old friends, some
at church.  I sat across from one such at lunch -- a young guy up from
Texas going on about how good it is that people are fighting cyberporn.

	I brought up parental control in attempted rebuttal and he switched
immediately to the idea that `parents usually *are* the child abusers and
we need to protect children from them -- not give parents control over what
gets communicated electronically'.

	I was surprised at the speed with which he switched to that line of
thought.  It's clear that this chess game opening has been played by or
around him before.

	[Come to think of it now, it's completely consistent with the
anti-abortion stand: that children (starting at fetus) are the property of
Society and parents are required to serve Society as soon as a child is
conceived (or perhaps as soon as they start having sex).  If it's child
abusers you're talking about, that line of reasoning can carry emotional
appeal.  However, I lived in Utah at a time when it was illegal for parents
to instruct their children about birth control (I was told (I didn't read
the law personally.)).]

 - Carl

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|Carl M. Ellison    cme@acm.org    http://www.clark.net/pub/cme/home.html  |
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|  ``Officer, officer, arrest that man!  He's whistling a dirty song.''    |
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