| A quick review of the major points of the Responsible Speech Campaign: |
| 1) |
A flag of some sort that my browser or mail (or other) software could recognize that would let me exercise the option *not* to look BEFORE I downloaded the stuff would not be a major imposition on the sender/author. |
| 2) |
There has been sufficient discussion of this subject, for a long enough time, that standards could have been adopted if the Net population was inclined to do it on its own. |
| 3) |
Since there was no interest in providing this simple courtesy, the US government acted to protect what it saw as the best interests of its citizens, providing an external incentive to do what the Net had not been able to find the internal incentive to do. |
| 4) |
While the CDA is certainly not perfect, it is a step in the right direction. Although it may require amendment, it should stay in force until and unless the Net becomes willing to establish and enforce standards to allow users to choose what they DO and DO NOT want to be exposed to. |
| 5) |
I do not wish to muzzle you or restrict your freedom to say what you feel you must say. I also do not wish to be forced to view material that is offensive to me in order to get useful work done. It seems to me that the best way to achieve both objectives (freedom of speech AND freedom of consumption) is for authors to tag their works so that consumers can choose what they want without having to sample it first. |
| Of course, you are still welcome to disagree, and I support your right to do so. If you do still disagree, would you do me the favor of explaining which of these points you think are unreasonable? |
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Return to the Responsible Speech FMA page. |