From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: Aarnet should not be pornographic!
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 08:04:02 GMT

ggr@koonda.acci.com.au (Greg Rose) writes:

[...]
>I think it would be great to get rid of all the stuff that doesn't meet
>the AARNet or NSFnet guidelines. Then there might be enough pressure
>created to get the guidelines changed or removed entirely.
[...]

This has already happened in the U.S. The current NSF guidelines do
not ban discussions of sex. On that contrary they list as a
"specifically acceptable use":

    "Communication and exchange ... to debate issues in a field or
     subfield of knowledge."

I believe the guidelines to be consistent with the principles
of academic freedom.

- Carl

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

(All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.)

=================
policies/nsf
=================
* Net -- National Science Foundation

The NSFNET backbone services acceptable use policy

=================
academic/academic-freedom.wus
=================
* Academic Freedom (WUS)

The Lima Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of Institutions
of Higher Education, an international declaration by the World
University Service.

Source: _World University Service Academic Freedom 1990: A Human
Rights Report_ by Laksiri Fernando, et al.

=================
academic/student.freedoms.aaup
=================
* Student Freedoms (AAUP)

Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main
U.S. statement on student academic freedom.

=================
academic/artistic.freedom.aaup
=================
* Artistic Freedom (AAUP)

Academic Freedom and Artistic Expression - An official statement of
the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

It says in part: "In our judgment academic freedom in the creation and
presentation of works in the visual and performing arts, by ensuring
greater opportunity for imaginative exploration and expression, best
serves the public and the academy."

=================
caf
=================
* About the CAF mailing lists (and newsgroups)

A description of the comp-academic-freedom-talk mailing list. It is a
free-forum for the discussion of questions such as: How should general
principles of academic freedom (such as freedom of expression, freedom
to read, due process, and privacy) be applied to university computers
and networks? How are these principles actually being applied? How can
the principles of academic freedom as applied to computers and
networks be defended?

=================
=================

If you have gopher, you can browse the CAF archive with the command
   gopher gopher.eff.org

These document(s) are also available by anonymous ftp (the preferred
method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp
to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4), and get file(s):

  pub/academic/policies/nsf
  pub/academic/academic/academic-freedom.wus
  pub/academic/academic/student.freedoms.aaup
  pub/academic/academic/artistic.freedom.aaup
  pub/academic/caf

To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org.
Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file
name):

send acad-freedom/policies nsf
send acad-freedom/academic academic-freedom.wus
send acad-freedom/academic student.freedoms.aaup
send acad-freedom/academic artistic.freedom.aaup
send acad-freedom caf


-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Newsgroups: aus.aarnet