A Normative View of Networking Applications
Invasions of privacy in communications should be prohibited except for those situations where a valid court order can be obtained (e.g., threats, criminal activities, libel, etc.)
Topic: Community/Culture
A Normative View of Networking Applications
“Hacking,” in any form, in order to illegitimately gain access to another person’s ID or communications or to damage other people’s work, should be explicitly forbidden; violations should always be prosecuted. This would make it clear that violating another person’s privacy on a network is definitely not a joke or a game.
A Normative View of Networking Applications
The owner of a specific group communication facility, such as a private conference, should make clear to the members of that conference all policies relating to rights of ownership, privacy of message communications, and censorship. For peer groups operating a group communication facility, this might require a group meta-discussion, that should take place among the group in order to remove any uncertainties.
A Normative View of Networking Applications
If communications are public, such as in a public conference, the operators should state clearly what, if any, are the policies on censorship of the material. On material that is not subject to censorship, the operators should recognize individual rights of ownership to individual entries.
A Normative View of Networking Applications
Operators of a system should commit to the privacy of non-public forms of communication (private messages and private conferences).
A Normative View of Networking Applications
Operators of group communication services should waive ownership of any private communications (message or private conference) flowing through their systems.
A Normative View of Networking Applications
The ability of individuals to form groups around common interests on a computer network in a quick, inexpensive manner far exceeds any other way of doing this, with respect to both speed and cost. In studies of the effectiveness of networking it has been shown that people find productivity gains result from being able to communicate with people they discovered on the network and not from communicating with the people they already knew. There is no limit to the type of group that might utilize networking capabilities.
The Pursuit of Techno-Happiness
There’s this tiny voice in my head that wonders: If the future is so great, why do I feel so wigged out and soulless whenever I spend time in its various digital manifestations? Big Mac is a junk version of food, porno a junk version of sex and virtual reality a junk version of life – they all entertain but leave one with a sort of hollow, empty feeling afterward.
Informing Ourselves to Death
The human dilemma is as it has always been, and we solve nothing fundamental by cloaking ourselves in technological glory. Even the humblest cartoon character knows this, and I shall close by quoting the wise old possum named Pogo, created by the cartoonist, Walt Kelley. I commend his words to all the technological utopians and messiahs present. “We have met the enemy,” Pogo said, “and he is us.”
Lessons From The Luddites
Industrialism, the ethos encapsulating the values and technologies of Western civilization, is seriously endangering stable social and environmental existence on this planet, to which must be opposed the values and techniques of an organic ethos that seeks to preserve the integrity, stability, and harmony of the biotic communities, and the human community within it.