Re: V-chip?

Tim May writes:

> Anyone telling me I have to rate my work, or submit it to a ratings agency,
> is aggressing against me. Now, if others rate my work (which is already
> happening with digest services such as "CP-Lite"), this is their business,
> not mine. But the V-Chip precedent is a precedent for the government to
> insist that all sorts of content be rated. This should be fought in a free
> society.

But what if they *ask* you nicely to label your work?

  "If you think your message is offensive, violent, or racist,
   would you please consider labelling it?"

I don't think I'd mind.  In fact, *optional* labels would make me more likely
to post such material, because I'd have some confidence that it would only be
read by people who want to read it. (And they could even find it more
quickly!)

There's nothing inherently wrong with labelling information. When messages
here are labelled [NOISE], I know to avoid them. This sort of
meta-information is helpful and good.

The precedent is what's troubling. Someone will probably try to mandate the
labels...Someone will try to write a law that says "Anyone who posts what I
consider offensive without a label is guilty." This is what should be
fought...not labels.

--Jeff

Jeff Williams writes:
 > But what if they *ask* you nicely to label your work?
 > 
 >   "If you think your message is offensive, violent, or racist,
 >    would you please consider labelling it?"
 > 
 > I don't think I'd mind.  

Yea!  And I'm sure you won't mind assuming the liability when somebody
disagrees with your label and files a civil suit against you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Nobody's going to listen to you if you just | Mike McNally (m5@tivoli.com) |
| stand there and flap your arms like a fish. | Tivoli Systems, Austin TX    |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

williams@va.arca.com (Jeff Williams) writes:

 > But what if they *ask* you nicely to label your work?

 >   "If you think your message is offensive, violent, or racist,
 >    would you please consider labelling it?"

 > I don't think I'd mind.  In fact, *optional* labels would
 > make me more likely to post such material, because I'd have
 > some confidence that it would only be read by people who
 > want to read it. (And they could even find it more quickly!)

For Usenet, a similar function is provided automatically by
search engines.  This is why I almost always read news now using
Alta Vista.  The database is updated with new articles in real
time, and I can use any label I choose (i.e. search criteria) to
find material in my chosen subject areas across all newsgroups.

In some sense, search engines are automatic labeling devices for
Usenet traffic.  I find them useful.  With a few more orders of
magnitude computing power, such technology could easily be
applied to audiovisual material as well.

 > There's nothing inherently wrong with labelling
 > information. When messages here are labelled [NOISE], I
 > know to avoid them. This sort of meta-information is helpful
 > and good.

Yes.  Voluntary labeling of publicly available information, or
services which permit selection of such information based on
personal criteria, is a Good Thing(tm).

Government labeling of publicly available information and laws
which mandate the use of such labels at the distribution end are
a Bad Thing(tm).

 > The precedent is what's troubling. Someone will probably
 > try to mandate the labels...Someone will try to write a law
 > that says "Anyone who posts what I consider offensive
 > without a label is guilty." This is what should be
 > fought...not labels.

A nice example of this in the private sector is TV Guide's
labeling of cable movies by content.  This goes beyond the MPAA
rating and includes such terms as "strong language", "nudity",
"violence", "adult themes", and "sexual situations." Were TV
Guide available in computer readable form, one could easily grep
the guide based on such keyphrases and plot summaries to find
everything from "DuckTales" to "Marilyn Chambers' Bikini Bistro."
Certainly easier than reading more than a dozen pages of tiny
print.

Again, I find this sort of thing useful, although I would be
among the first to protest if the government mandated it in law,
or required extra circuitry in all television sets to take
advantage of it.

--
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd@netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $

On 25 Jan 1996, Jeff Williams wrote:

> Tim May writes:
> 
> > Anyone telling me I have to rate my work, or submit it to a ratings agency,
> > is aggressing against me. Now, if others rate my work (which is already
> > happening with digest services such as "CP-Lite"), this is their business,
> > not mine. But the V-Chip precedent is a precedent for the government to
> > insist that all sorts of content be rated. This should be fought in a free
> > society.
> 
> But what if they *ask* you nicely to label your work?
> 
>   "If you think your message is offensive, violent, or racist,
>    would you please consider labelling it?"
> 
> I don't think I'd mind.  In fact, *optional* labels would make me more likely
> to post such material, because I'd have some confidence that it would only be
> read by people who want to read it. (And they could even find it more
> quickly!)
[...commentary on labeling deleted...]

The problem is that labeling which begins as voluntary often has other 
consequences... for example, the voluntary labeling in the music 
industry. Although it's voluntary labeling, one state (Washington, I 
believe) at one point nearly passed (or possibly did pass - I can't 
remember) legislation making it illegal to sell labeled albums to minors.

The label itself, of course, was still voluntary.

I'm not opposed to *truly* and *permanantly* voluntary labeling; I'm just 
afraid of such labeling becoming permanant and mandatory...

Jon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Lasser                <jlasser@rwd.goucher.edu>            (410)494-3072 
          Visit my home page at http://www.goucher.edu/~jlasser/
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