I've subscribed to the PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility) mailing list since it started up, and today I received an interesting little document they call the PFIR DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES.

The document is not long but does appear to be a good start at setting down some guiding principles for the use, monitoring and control of the Internet. Whether something like this has a hope in hell of influencing anything is somewhat doubtful, but I think it would be a good start if everyone would read it and at least think about the issues raised. You don't have to agree with the positions taken, but failure to see the significance of the broader effect of the Internet and how it is used is just begging for abuse.

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Re: Internet Principles
by Masem (Monsignor) on Jul 06, 2001 at 16:56 UTC
    Not to go on an /.-like thread, but what bothers me is that these principles were already in place before the Endless September; why should we have to redeclare these?

    I guess the key thing to keep in mind that the net has always been about empowering users (by this, I mean all users of the net whether commercial, governmental, or individual) but at the same time giving them responsibility. Unfortunately, we either have users that empower themselves too much (the corporate side) or those that don't take responsibility (the downfall of USENET and the trolling of /.). The best we can hope for is to continue to push for community sites like PM where empowering users along with responsibility is (*) the norm, but it makes PM a much better site for it. (UPDATE: not 'is not the' like I had it, oops ;-))

    Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
[reply]
      I agree that these ideas have been around for a long time, but then so have I (on the 'net in one form or another since the mid-80's) and probably many others here. But the community then, or even 10 years ago was a small and highly-educated one, and also one rooted in co-operation and open communication. Today the 'population' of the 'net is quite different, both in the end-users and the content providers, and neither group has 'grown-up' with the Internet.

      You are quite right - we need to push for community, and if PFIR can help to foster the spirit of co-operation, then they have my support.

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      I'd like to be able to assign to an luser

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