Letter: Letters : Save us from censors

From Simeon Miteff

miteff@mail.acenet.co.za

I have some objections to software that blocks anything remotely suggesting pornography or sex on the Net (This week, 20 September, p 20).

Take a look at the Web site of Peacefire, an organisation of teenagers who oppose censorship on the Net (http://www.peacefire.org). It gives examples of sites that are blocked by Net censors, including Peacefire’s own Web site and those of the US National Organization for Women, International Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission, The Penal Lexicon (a British web site dedicated to raising awareness of prison conditions in Britain), Animal Rights Resource, and so on.

According to Peacefire: “Cyber Patrol blocks an atheist newsgroup, a feminist newsgroup, and the entire hierarchy of discussion groups related to journalism.”

I’m not for pornography, but I would rather see children be exposed to pornography than kept in the dark about their rights, birth control and their own sexuality.

The Net is a reflection of society. There is good and bad stuff. If children look for bad stuff in the real world, they are going to find it, no matter what you do. The same applies to cyberspace.