Evil terrorist porn network
James Boyle at the Financial Times asks a few questions.
You have to design a global computer network. One group of scientists describes a system that is fundamentally open — open protocols and systems so anyone could connect to it and offer information or products to the world. Another group – scholars, businessmen, bureaucrats – points out the problems. Anyone could connect to it. They could do anything. There would be porn, piracy, viruses and spam. Terrorists could put up videos glorifying themselves. Your activist neighbour could compete with The New York Times in documenting the Iraq war. Better to have a well-managed system, in which official approval is required to put up a site; where only a few actions are permitted; where most of us are merely recipients of information; where spam, viruses, piracy (and innovation and anonymous speech) are impossible. Which would you have picked?
Thanks to Cory@BoingBoing for the link.
Posted by Garrett on August 13th, 2006 in Politics, Security, Web | No Comments
