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Dear Mr Vice President and Staff,

It has been brought to my attention that there is an amendment (the Exon 
Amendment) which is intended to result in censorship of the internet.

I have been an active participant on the Internet since 1982.  I have 
also been a radio amateaur since 1968 (I was 11 years old).  There are 
two things that stand out in that experience.

The internet provides an opportunity to discuss a variety of subjects 
from a variety of view-points.  At this time, there are over 12,000 news 
groups, several thousand web servers, several thousand mailing lists, and 
several thousand chat groups.  These resources cover the span of human 
interests, passions, and feelings.  Not suprisingly, some of these groups 
cover topics of sex, sexuality, sexual preferences, sexual identity, and 
unusual sexual practices.  In a community of 3-9 million people, there 
are all types.

Senator Exon raises a legitimate concern with regard to the possibility 
of a 7 year old child reading postings on groups such as 
alt.sex.bondage.  As a father, I would not want my children to be 
solicited or induced into reading this type of material.  On the other 
hand, the current regulations of Internet Traffic with regards to issues 
such as encryption, authentication, and security are barriers to 
responsible conduct.  Often, potentially offensive material is encrypted 
using "rot13", but most kids could figure that out.

Current client/server software do not do a great deal to authenticate 
users.  The child can use a parent's account and appears to the net to be 
an adult, with the rights and responsibilities of an adult.  The 
responsiblity for protecting the children lies not with the server or the 
telecommunications provider, but with the owner of the internet user 
account, the parent.

There is not currently a structure for registering adults vs. minors.  
Perhaps such a structure would be useful.  A parent could identify 
specific user accounts as those of minor children.  The server could then
have a mechanism for refusing to deliver potentially offensive material.

Currently, the internet account I am using now included warnings that I 
would be responsible for the content and for all material I chose to 
read.  Since I am the only user of that account, it is not a great 
concern, but it would be very tempting to let a young child log on to the 
internet using an uncensored host.  The result would be that that child, 
appearing to be an adult, could read sexually explicit material.

There are precautions that can be taken by the internet subscriber, but 
the server, point of presence, and telecommunications carrier must assume 
that the subscriber will be responsible for any connection made to the 
internet.

Some other protections that could be added would be the requirement of 
Automatic Number Identification logs for all Dial-Up (SLIP & PPP) 
connections.  Use of kerberos password encryption to prevent curious kids
from capturing the password.  Use of a federal registry of users as well 
as internet addresses.

The internet has thrived as a result of minimal regulation.  To suddenly
respond to knee-jerk proposals which potentially threaten free
constitutional rights to free-speech, privacy, and due-process could 
result in arbitrary retribution and punishment of the small enterpreneaur 
upon which the internet thrives.

	Rex Ballard



From rballard@cnj.digex.net Mon Apr 10 00:57:41 1995
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