From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Abstract of CAF-News 02.39
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 10:59:08 GMT

This is an abstract for the most recent "Computers and Academic
Freedom News" (CAF-News). Information about CAF-News follows the
abstract. The full CAF-News is available via anonymous ftp or by
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The full CAF-News is also available via email. Send email to
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--- begin abstract ---
[Week ending August 9th, 1992

========================== KEY ================================
The words after the numbers are a short PARAPHRASES of the
articles, or QUOTES from them, NOT AN OBJECTIVE SUMMARY and
not necessarily my opinion.
===============================================================

Notes 1 to 6 discuss the censorship of pornographic material. This
discussion stems from the decision of some Canadian universities to
stop receiving the alt.sex.* newsgroups because they offend some and
are allegedly illegal.

1. To claim that human beings are forced to become criminal in their
actions merely by exposure to depictions of criminal activity is
clearly false, and to argue in favour of the censorship of certain
material on that basis is equally false.
    <1992Aug3.122757.1104@hubcap.clemson.edu>

2. "If the [alt.sex.bondage] community could bring itself to cancel the illegal
articles, and put them in another newsgroup which Canada could block,
then there would be no reason to block a.s.b, and the universities
would feel freer to get it back."
    <1992Aug5.001511.27836@cs.sfu.ca>

3. "I find it odd that people can't see a distinction between [the
Fascist or Stalinist restriction of rational debate of ideas], and the
kind of censorship of socially undesirable non-rhetorical material
which has been practised for centuries all over the world -- including
the US under the Constitution and the First Amendment."
    <1992Aug6.185205.250@cs.sfu.ca>

4. "What right is being defended when my speech [is] banned because of
your mores. The 'right' not to have other people violate your mores?
If there is such a right then there is no room for other rights...
Here is some of the history of government suppression of sexual
materials..."
    <1992Aug7.151318.9822@eff.org>

5. Here is a list of some studies which have investigated the
relationship between pornography and violence.
    <1992Aug7.151709.9915@eff.org>

6. "I am not concerned with harm. I have no doubt at all that [some
books have had] a mainly pernicious influence on the world. But I know
that the way to counter lies is with truth, not suppression.
Censorship only increases the harm, and dilutes freedom with the very
tyranny we claim to oppose."
    <xczmsjg.barry@netcom.com>


Notes 7 to 9 are on issues related to the censorship of material based
on content.

7. The president of the University of British Columbia, in Canada,
recently circulated a letter in which he described his intention to
ensure that "university property is not being used to access, create
or store pornographic material on university computing equipment."
    <DALTON.92Jul31231305@oligo.Geop.UBC.CA>

8. "There are _many_ newsgroups which are offensive to various
religious bodies - ranging from soc.bi to alt.atheism to alt.drugs.
In _each_ of these cases, one or more religions could make as valid a
case for removing the group as could be made for the removal of
alt.moslem.wanted.gay. Yet, _none_ of those cases would justify their
removal. If Usenet is to have any value as a tool of communications,
it _must_ be totally free of any form of censorship. This includes
censorship based on political, moral, OR religious grounds."
    <30smyck.adamsr@netcom.com>

9. People at the University of Massachusetts at Boston are permitted
 to store any material they wish in private files, make any of their
files publicly readable, create any mailing list, and post anything to
Usenet. What they may not do is display, for instance on a publicly
visible X-terminal, material that could not be given a `PG-13' rating.
    <BETSYS.92Aug3155829@ra.cs.umb.edu>

- Elizabeth]

--- end   abstract ---

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Disclaimer: This CAF-News abstract was compiled by a guest editor or a
regular editor (Paul Joslin, Elizabeth M. Reid, Adam C. Gross, Mark C.
Sheehan or Carl M. Kadie). It is not an EFF publication. The views an
editor expresses and editorial decisions he or she makes are his or
her own.

-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Xref: sparky alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk:2715 alt.censorship:7388 alt.politics.correct:5251 soc.college:3796