The future access to information by the public is dependent upon the freedom of engineers
<tinfoil-hat-mode>So by using the DMCA, which by the line of reasoning that got us this far will restrict engineers from tinkering with stuff, they're planning to stop anyone getting access to information they don't want us to have...?</tinfoil-hat-mode>
What age would this be? The one where left handed children were forced to learn to write with their right hand?
Speaking from experience (second-hand, from my wife), that wasn't all that long ago in some smaller towns here in the UK. She went through almost a year of hell, and eventually started producing near-perfect "mirror writing" with her right hand (never mind regularly missing doors she thought she was heading for OK, and thus walking into walls).
Eventually one of the teachers with a clue actually listened to her parents, figuring that they might know something about their child and the effects this was having on her as opposed to believing that parents couldn't possibly know anything about how to educate children.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as soon as she was moved to a clas where she was allowed to write left-handed, the problems vanished inside a couple of weeks.
(I assume you deliberately got the definitions the wrong way around, BTW...)
In any case, it's perhaps worth pointing out that I (along with most of the rest of the British population) am both a British Subject and a British Citizen. So, not only am I a Subject of HM Queen Elizabeth the mis-numbered (sorry, I'm a Scot), but I also have the right of abode in the UK.
A point sometimes missed is that being a British Subject does not, in and of itself, grant you this right...
"Ask not what your contry can do for you, but
what you and do for your country."
- Some famous American or other.
OK, I'll admit that the attribution is flamebait - but think for a moment before modding, please. Perhaps if more people remembered JFK's words - and put them into practice - then folks would accept that citizens helping each other (their community, or country...) wasn't actually a bad thing, but rather behaviour that should be encouraged...?
Shouldn't this be left up to the parents? Isn't it absurd to force other parents and non-parents alike to pay for someone else's ideal of morality?
Absolutely. I mean, hey - when I was growing up I saw pr0n from about the age of 12 onwards. I've managed to make it to 35, and don't think I've turned out too badly.
As far as censoring what my child sees (he's 10), I pretty much don't bother - education is far better than censorship! If it's a TV show that he doesn't like (perhaps it scares him?) then he knows he can walk away - or hit one of the magic buttons ("off" or "switch channels"...) if it's just him watching TV.
The same goes for internet access: his PC has a link to the net (gotta love cable modems!). I'll admit that I kept an eye on what he does, so I was sure he was getting the stuff he was looking for. Guess what? 95+% of his time on the net is on sites related to TV channels - usually Fox Kids or Cartoon Network. The rest of the time is search engines or reference sites, looking up info for school.
I know he's seen nudity, but he's ignored it. It doesn't seem to be something that he's desperately interested in (for now!:-)), so I figure he's OK on the 'net. Sure, I've told him to ask before he gives out info (like an email address), but so far I haven't said "no".
Shouldn't adults be allowed to have "unhindered access" to "these materials"? Or is free speech and freedom of expression expendable so that parents can be lazy?
I guess the bottom line is this: I agree completely that it should be the responsibility of parents to protect and guide their own children. I certainly don't think a government has any right to tell me what I can look at, and I don't think they have the right to say what my son can look at either!
Thought I'd add my voice in support of Blueyonder for UK Cable Modem access. Sure, it's limited to 512/128 kbps, but that's still a good upgrade from my old 56K beast!
Prices are pretty good too - £33/month if you just want the modem, or £25 if you take the Telewest phone and/or TV package too: not too shabby, and noticably cheaper than BT's DSL offering.
Downtime has been pretty minimal (about 4 hours since last September thatr affected me), and their installation engineers seem to get pretty good marks all round from folks that have talked to them.
I mentionde to the installer that I was vaguely computer-savvy, and he suggested a decent firewall for the Win98 install the modem was being connected to, then smiled and mentioned that if I wanted to use a Linux box I should just call them up and get the MAC address of the Linux NIC registerd with them... alternatively, he even suggested using ifconfig to get around the MAC issue!:-)
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<tinfoil-hat-mode>So by using the DMCA, which by the line of reasoning that got us this far will restrict engineers from tinkering with stuff, they're planning to stop anyone getting access to information they don't want us to have...?</tinfoil-hat-mode>
Actually... now that I think about this...
Speaking from experience (second-hand, from my wife), that wasn't all that long ago in some smaller towns here in the UK. She went through almost a year of hell, and eventually started producing near-perfect "mirror writing" with her right hand (never mind regularly missing doors she thought she was heading for OK, and thus walking into walls).
Eventually one of the teachers with a clue actually listened to her parents, figuring that they might know something about their child and the effects this was having on her as opposed to believing that parents couldn't possibly know anything about how to educate children.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as soon as she was moved to a clas where she was allowed to write left-handed, the problems vanished inside a couple of weeks.
(I assume you deliberately got the definitions the wrong way around, BTW...)
In any case, it's perhaps worth pointing out that I (along with most of the rest of the British population) am both a British Subject and a British Citizen. So, not only am I a Subject of HM Queen Elizabeth the mis-numbered (sorry, I'm a Scot), but I also have the right of abode in the UK.
A point sometimes missed is that being a British Subject does not, in and of itself, grant you this right...
OK, I'll admit that the attribution is flamebait - but think for a moment before modding, please. Perhaps if more people remembered JFK's words - and put them into practice - then folks would accept that citizens helping each other (their community, or country...) wasn't actually a bad thing, but rather behaviour that should be encouraged...?
or did anyone else read the headline as colonizes? :-)
- stadium -> stadia*
* Thank you, Tom LehrerShouldn't this be left up to the parents? Isn't it absurd to force other parents and non-parents alike to pay for someone else's ideal of morality?
Absolutely. I mean, hey - when I was growing up I saw pr0n from about the age of 12 onwards. I've managed to make it to 35, and don't think I've turned out too badly.
As far as censoring what my child sees (he's 10), I pretty much don't bother - education is far better than censorship! If it's a TV show that he doesn't like (perhaps it scares him?) then he knows he can walk away - or hit one of the magic buttons ("off" or "switch channels"...) if it's just him watching TV.
The same goes for internet access: his PC has a link to the net (gotta love cable modems!). I'll admit that I kept an eye on what he does, so I was sure he was getting the stuff he was looking for. Guess what? 95+% of his time on the net is on sites related to TV channels - usually Fox Kids or Cartoon Network. The rest of the time is search engines or reference sites, looking up info for school.
I know he's seen nudity, but he's ignored it. It doesn't seem to be something that he's desperately interested in (for now! :-)), so I figure he's OK on the 'net. Sure, I've told him to ask before he gives out info (like an email address), but so far I haven't said "no".
Shouldn't adults be allowed to have "unhindered access" to "these materials"? Or is free speech and freedom of expression expendable so that parents can be lazy?
I guess the bottom line is this: I agree completely that it should be the responsibility of parents to protect and guide their own children. I certainly don't think a government has any right to tell me what I can look at, and I don't think they have the right to say what my son can look at either!
Thought I'd add my voice in support of Blueyonder for UK Cable Modem access. Sure, it's limited to 512/128 kbps, but that's still a good upgrade from my old 56K beast!
Prices are pretty good too - £33/month if you just want the modem, or £25 if you take the Telewest phone and/or TV package too: not too shabby, and noticably cheaper than BT's DSL offering.
Downtime has been pretty minimal (about 4 hours since last September thatr affected me), and their installation engineers seem to get pretty good marks all round from folks that have talked to them.
I mentionde to the installer that I was vaguely computer-savvy, and he suggested a decent firewall for the Win98 install the modem was being connected to, then smiled and mentioned that if I wanted to use a Linux box I should just call them up and get the MAC address of the Linux NIC registerd with them... alternatively, he even suggested using ifconfig to get around the MAC issue! :-)