\input setup
\style{letter}
\def\title{$<$amgreene@mit.edu$>$ \\
Chairman} % \\ //MIT Student Information Processing Board// \\ 617-253-7788}
\def\date{\\\\\\\\\\11 March 1990\\\\}
\def\address{\hskip 2.33in}
%Massachusetts Institute of Technology \\ Room W20-557 \\
%Cambridge, MA 02139}
\letterto{The New York Times \\ 229 W. 43 St. \\ New York, N.Y. 10036}

To the editor:

Felicity Barringer covers most sides of the issue of electronic
bulletin board censorship in her article, //Electronic Bulletin Boards
Need Editing.  No They Don't.// [Week in Review, March 11]  The
article ends with a comparison of these forums to ``the printing
presses of the 21st century.''  
%This understates the most important
%features of network bulletin boards: 
We feel that this fails to stress the two most
important features of network bulletin boards:  
their speed and accessibility.

At MIT, the ``Discuss'' and Usenet ``NetNews'' systems (run by the Student
Information Processing Board) are only one form of electronic
communications.  For many students, electronic mail is the most
reliable form of communication.  A system called Zephyr provides a
cross between telephones and CB radios.  Each of these programs allows
//any// user to post a message that can be read within seconds or
hours by any other user, across campus or around the world.
%The sum of these programs is
%a system that lets us communicate quickly, whether a simple
%person-to-person message or a general announcement.

%The Student Information Processing Board (SIPB) runs the Usenet
%and Discuss electronic conferencing systems at MIT.  However, this only
%one of many forms of electronic communications available to the students
%and faculty at MIT.  Electronic mail is perhaps the most commonly used
%form of communications when a user needs to reliably reach another user.
%A system called Zephyr can be used to reach users more quickly, but only
%works if the intended recipient(s) of the message is currently using the
%computer system.  Since these forms of electronic communications are
%available to any MIT student..... //More here//

In our opinion, it is extremely important that these electronic
communications not be censored.  At a conventional party, guests
can join and leave any conversations they wish, but the host is not
responsible for monitoring every word that is spoken.  We feel that
this is the most apt metaphor for electronic media.
%Perhaps the best metaphor that can used would
%compare electronic bulletin boards to a cocktail party.  Like a cocktail
%party, users are free to migrate from group to group depending on which
%friends they would like to talk to or which topics they would like to
%discuss.  If at a cocktail party, two of the guests start exchanging
%credit card numbers, the host is clearly not at fault if he was not
%aware of that particular conversation.  However, if the stated purpose
%of the social gathering is illegal, then of course the host may be held
%responsible.  We believe that the same standards should apply for
%electronic bulletin boards.
%
%That the best way to solve social ills is often not to be found in the
%Courts, however.  
As in other ``traditional'' forms of communications, people
occasionally say things which are in poor taste or poor judgement.  The
penalties for these breaches of electronic etiquette are the same as
in the traditional forums --- the offenders are told in no uncertain
terms //by their peers// that their behaviour is unacceptable.

%As in ``traditional'' communication media, people occasionally say
%things that are in poor taste or judgment.  The penalties for these
%breaches are the same as in the traditional forums.  People who post
%inappropriate messages are ``flamed into the ground'' (browbeaten
%electronically in no uncertain terms).
% When there are two sides to an
% issue, such as the debate that was terminated on Prodigy, we let the
% flames die down by themselves.
% Possible rewording, suggested by Ted:
In the course of administering the electronic bulletin board systems at
MIT, we often observe heated debates (``flame wars'') such as the one which
Prodigy terminated on their service.  Our experience has been that the
flames die down by themselves if left alone, and that has been our policy.
%
In the four years that we have run Discuss, only a handful out of tens
of thousands of messages have been deleted for flagrant violations of
bulletin-board ethics.  Less than one percent of NetNews postings are
cancelled.  It is our belief that the users and administrators of
electronic bulletin boards are developing a new form of exchanging
ideas which is more practical and accessible than any other, and that
these users are responsible enough to not abuse the freedom that these
brave new electronic worlds open.

\endletter{Sincerely,}
\bye


