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Digital Censorship
Jan. 20th, 2010 12:43 pmThe totalitarian regime of the future arrives in a software box with the censorship functions turned on by default.
Snake sent a letter to a colleague at the college where he works. It didn't arrive. "Nope," said the colleague. "Not in my junk mail either." Snake re-sent... nada. He opened up the email and looked at what he had written. It included the phrase, "The mid-term tests really fuck up the schedule that week." He deleted the word fuck and sent.
It arrived.
Because of the presence of the word "fuck" in a private correspondence about work matters between colleagues, the email was destroyed. Not placed in junk, not flagged with a note, but destroyed without notice. I can't really think of a situation in which that kind of action would be tolerable. Any.
I bet the college doesn't even know those limits are there. They're just the manufacturer's default, in place to appease a vociferous minority. Creeping totalitarian controls are not on election ballots, nor are they put up for any plebicites. They are just built in.
Snake sent a letter to a colleague at the college where he works. It didn't arrive. "Nope," said the colleague. "Not in my junk mail either." Snake re-sent... nada. He opened up the email and looked at what he had written. It included the phrase, "The mid-term tests really fuck up the schedule that week." He deleted the word fuck and sent.
It arrived.
Because of the presence of the word "fuck" in a private correspondence about work matters between colleagues, the email was destroyed. Not placed in junk, not flagged with a note, but destroyed without notice. I can't really think of a situation in which that kind of action would be tolerable. Any.
I bet the college doesn't even know those limits are there. They're just the manufacturer's default, in place to appease a vociferous minority. Creeping totalitarian controls are not on election ballots, nor are they put up for any plebicites. They are just built in.
