FoxFire Studios Newsletter

There's been some questions raised about my views with the Telecom Bill and it's CDA clause. For those of you who've been asleep on the terminal this past spring (Naughty, naughty, naughty), and which to hear of my side without the intense desire to thro w 20-point flames at my tail on politics (Make me barf, please), allow me to put you up to speed.

{Clears throat and switches on Soapbox Mode. Klick here to bypass}

Being a popular FanFict writer from America On-Line, the majority of my fans are young teenagers and younger. Heck, my net.sweety, Emily Smith, is 15. (I, FYI, will be 27 on Thursday next week, and no accusations of pedophilia, please; I'm not the type. ) Being put in a role of a local Mister Rodgers (albeit one on cyberpunk, anime, MA-17 rated video games, and whatever progressive stuff that Fred wouldn't touch. {A scene in 'Mr. Rodgers' Neiborhood' I'd like to see: David Kintobor hooks up a security system in the Neiborhood of Make Believe. King Friday then plays 'Night Trap' with burglers later that night!!} :-) and being a concerned net.citizen, I am aware of, and very concerned over, the horror stories involving the steamier side of the Internet . Every city has their Red Light Disricts, and the one here is nortorious!!

It's not just pictures of naked people or Sonic using his speed for something other than running. (Sometimes, I just feel sorry for Princess Sally) We're talking stuff that would never make it in Playboy! Heck, they won't even allow it on morning talk s hows, or even 'Focus on the Family' or '700 Club' exposes!! Do you know that, in the one year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, you can get the recipie for the bomb used there on the Internet? I'm not sure if there *is* a picture of an AI DS-ridden, ugly as all hell, lesbian performance artist buck neekeed making out with a dog with a bullwhip up her butt, but I'm *sure* it exists!! And do you know that Timothy Leery, "Professor LSD," is planning to commit suicide and have it taped on-lin e? Maybe I should stop on the examples before I actually start to nauseate somebody with my descriptions . . .

Now, just to be on the record. I am not-NOT-***NOT***-saying we should pull this stuff off the Net (I'll explain below), my stand on it is, "If you need this crap to get you excited, you can *have* it; I have no need of the stuff!" What I *am* saying th at there should be something to keep younger Netters from (a) stumbling into the Internet's Red Light District and (b) being victims of what I call "on-line molestation;" that is, being sent XXX-rated material by some sick pervert. When the Computer Dec ency Act is pushed through congress, I may not have to agree with the wordings (This will be included with the aforementioned explaination) but I was in favor with the spirit of this bill. The topic is being open up and debated over in Congress, and some thing is being done about these horror stories.

"But David," you'd ask, "Aren't you afraid that the CDA will censor the Internet?" (I roll my eyes, getting nauseated at the countless times the protesters are saying that. A thought run through my mind thinking that they *want* to shove this stuf to ki ds, or something.) No I Do Not. I have two reasons why (Here's the aforementioned explaination):

One, It is logistically impossible to censor the Internet unless you destroy every computer on the planet. We are talking about a computer network with connections in the nine figures (XXX,XXX,XXX) plus, and spreading over almost every country, continent and race of people on Earth, and you think that anyone (Be it either a communistic government that'll be extinct by 2040 because they're offing all their baby girls or an anal-retentive Senator and a bunch of Bible-thumping preachers) can stop them all? Does the phrase "lession in futility" mean anything to them? The Internet is too damn big. It can't be censored.

Two, I severly doubt that it'll go that far. This government America's got is one of the best because it keeps legistrations like this one from going too far, by debate and compromises. I'm certain that such a compromise will occur with the CDA, softeni ng up the wordings and meanings into something more tolerable. It's the same thing which happened with Violent Video Games, remember? SEGA answered a silimar threat from congress one better by putting stickers on their games, and allowing the consumers to choose which ones they'll allow to buy. The same thing is occurring here, with the advent of Web blockers and passcode screens on selected Web Sites. Of course the best protection is Parental Involvement. Somehow, I'm sure of it, a happy medium will be agreed on in the debate over the CDA. It's how things work here.

The Internet has become equal parts schoolhouse and playground for your younger generation, much more so than us adults. Sometimes, in places like gang-ridden inner cities, it's the only place some are even allowed to go. They should be as safe from the bad guys as it is supposed to be outside their own homes. I believe we can give them that without trampling on anybody's freedom of speech, and as responsible citizens of the Internet, we should find a way to do that.

One final question: "What if, during the Democratic Process, the CDA *is* found unconstitutional and is thrown out?" So what? I'm not interested in its fate. I'm interested in bring the above topic into the open for discussion, namely, cyberporn and k ids. For that, the Telecom Bill has already served its purpose, and can just lay down and die for all I care. I just don't want this legitimate concern from some of the responsible citizens of the Internet silenced by the knee-jerk response of the anti- CDA crowd. This concern needs to be discussed, and something aggreed to, before something worse than a piece of legistration comes up and *really* starts shutting down the net. Remember what I said in BAM Restart: "Any idea, no matter what it is, is at that time better than doing nothing to your problems."

{End of Speech. I switch off Soapbox Mode and grab a swig of Diet Pepsi as I look over my E-Mail amazed with the new stories coming up}