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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.vbc.net!alpha.sky.net!news.sprintlink.net!new-news.sprintlink.net!EU.net!Portugal.EU.net!news.rccn.net!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!news99.sunet.se!nntp-trd.UNINETT.no!usenet From: ketil.albertsen@idb.hist.no (Ketil Albertsen) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.osf.misc,comp.unix.sco.misc,comp.security.firewalls,comp.unix.admin,comp.org.usenix,comp.org.uniforum,comp.dcom.net-management,comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip,comp.os.netware.misc,comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip,alt.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Communications Decency Act may corrupt protocols Date: 11 Apr 1996 14:23:14 GMT Organization: Trondheim College of Engineering Lines: 19 Message-ID: <4kj4ki$s8b@doffen.uninett.no> References: <4ki6d6$ln7@newsserv.cs.sunysb.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: pc151.idb.hist.no Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.99.7 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.protocols.tcp-ip:43707 comp.unix.bsd.misc:695 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2893 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17099 comp.unix.osf.misc:3010 comp.unix.sco.misc:16087 comp.security.firewalls:1947 comp.unix.admin:40512 comp.org.usenix:5505 comp.org.uniforum:527 comp.dcom.net-management:2389 comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip:21955 comp.os.netware.misc:23819 comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip:47675 alt.dcom.telecom:16675 [sayre@cs.sunysb.edu:] >In pursuit of ways to enforce the recently enacted Communications Decency >Act, which seeks to control indecent expression on the Internet and is >currently under legal challenge as unconstitutional, the U.S. Department >of Justice is apparently considering recommending that ALL packet traffic >on the Internet contain a bit or flag of some kind indicating its "decency" >status - it would be _integrated into the protocol architecture at the network >level_. The next logical step would of course be to add decency indicator bits to phone traffic as well - packet data may also be transferred across phone lines. But even other kinds of data transfer - say, digitized speech - may have indecent contents. I assume that in a couple of years, all phone sets sold must be equipped with an extra "adult" button that the user is required to keep depressed (so that the indecent bit is set in the data stream) whenever he pronounces a word that can be harmful to the ears and/or minds of minors.