As one who received early notification from Architectronics that
Mailbase had decided to block mail from Geocities, I felt very strongly
that it had been a bad decision, appearing as it did to be the first
signs of censorship on the lists.
The majority of replies which I have read are in favour of the action
which has been taken. However, I have supervised dissertations on
Internet censorship and this issue is very complex. There have been a
number of discussions on whether students should join (and make requests
to) the mailbase lists - I personally think that lists for academics
should not be open to students but most people disagreed. There was a
discussion on requests for "missed videorecordings" on one list - I don't
think the lists are the place for these, but I can see the opposite view.
Nobody knows why anyone chooses a particular IP provider, except that one
person uses Geocities for social use; however, I think there is a simple
answer and it comes from Mailbase's Built Environment, which is a
"closed" list in that application to the list owner has to be made to
join. Perhaps this should be the way forward? At least then a simple
proforma might be used?
We already have filtering to rid us of what we don't like, but I would be
very loath to discover that a legitimate comment on a particular issue
had been rejected because Mailbase didn't like Geocities or whatever. I
hope the discussions about refusals will consider these implications of
censorship.
Roy Killey,
formerly Academic Liaison Librarian (Design and Communication Systems),
Anglia Polytechnic University, Chelmsford
28 Howe Lane,
Nafferton,
DRIFFIELD,
East Yorkshire,
YO25 4JU
Phone 01377 254718
Email [log in to unmask]
"Information is power, but people matter more than things"
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