QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 2nd May 2010, 9:14am)
QUOTE(thekohser @ Sun 2nd May 2010, 1:14am)
Interesting
note made by Sanger on Techdirt:
QUOTE
...The FBI has asked for more time before making public comment...
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And what does Sanger (or do any of you) expect from this FBI investigation? Are you saying that Mike Godwin belongs in jail because of this? I mean, if Sanger's saying it's a "clear violation" of 18 USC 1466A, and he's claiming Godwin knows about it, then that's what he's saying. Godwin goes to jail, for not less than 5 years, for hosting highly offensive fictional cartoons.
I'm sorry, but that's a scary thought. I'm in full support of child porn laws. But this is not a child porn law, it's an obscenity law. And obscenity laws are effectively thoughtcrimes.
Why would Godwin be the one to go to jail?
What I would hope (in my best world of all possible worlds) would be that the FBI issue a "white paper" or other such advisory notice, recommending "best practices" for websites that publish content that some significant number of people may find offensive or obscene, if not expressly illegal. For example, the paper might say, "If your website serves up an old drawing of what appears to be a 12-year-old girl, her dolly dropped on the floor, giving a blow-job to a reclining man, it is advisable in the opinion of the FBI to place those sorts of images behind a captcha-based screen, where the would-be viewer must agree that they are over the age of 18, and that they realize and consent to the fact that the forthcoming image may be offensive or objectionable to many people."
Do I expect something so logical and helpful to actually emerge from the FBI? No.
Do I expect the Wikimedia Foundation to adopt proactively something so logical and helpful, regardless of legal obligation to do so? No.
Do I expect to hear Jimmy Wales at some point in 2010 lecturing to an audience or responding to an interview, that Wikimedia Foundation projects are laudable and worthy, in large part because of his belief that they serve and educate young children? Yes.
This post has been edited by thekohser: