The Subscriber Side #1:
  Protect Me!

We don't want our ISPs to be law enforcement agencies any more than we want our health care determined by an underwriting clerk. Still, is there a role for service providers in shielding subscribers from unwanted content?

by Nelson King [June 21, 1999]

Spam, porn, hackers, scams, viruses—the growing list of nasties that are evolving with the Internet have a lot of people concerned. I'm one of them. This is worse than software updates. More and more things to watch out for, yet I have so little time and perhaps lack the expertise to do it right. I don't blame people who are looking for help. I'm even understanding about people who want to move some of the responsibility onto other shoulders—like onto the government or the ISP.

Not so long ago, politicians made a great roar discovering the issue of pornography on the Web. A lot of old-time Net users thought this was posturing or much ado about nothing; sex after all is part of life and the Net is life so the Net will have sex. I don't know how many of these inveterate Net trekkers have children but it doesn't seem like they had much of a clue about the sensitivities of parents. "Protect the children" sentiment runs deep and brooks no political opposition whatsoever. The result was that we almost got the CDA.

Under the hot lights of a newly engaged press, Internet users, both rational and irrational, began to cast about for points where children could be effectively protected from exposure to pornography. At the time it seemed only three solutions were viable: general legislation, user control (via blocking software), or force ISPs to become censors. I remember a great panic that swept through the Internet community-and ISPs in particular-about the call for service providers to police Internet content.

In loco parentis?
In a way the ISP might seem like today's schools-a convenient place to dump responsibilities that properly belong with the family or with individual parents. If I'm a busy working parent, and I don't know much about the Internet, but I do know that my kids need to be protected, why wouldn't I look toward some centralized point that could—technically at least—help block unwanted content?

I know. There are many valid arguments as to why ISPs shouldn't be involved with censorship of any kind. The "we are only the conduit" argument, along with the parallels to the legal freedoms of the publishing media have been widely disseminated. On the other hand, the oft-quoted example of someone yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded theater points up a scenario in which a lay person (the theater owner) is empowered to take quasi-legal action. The ISP position may be analogous. Certain services—such as chat and hosted Web sites—may be illegal and harmful, and the ISP would be expected to take some action.

Mirroring the law
Back in February, for example, MindSpring shut down the anti-abortion Web site of Neal Horsley for violating its 'appropriate use policies'. This was shortly after an Oregon jury ruled the site constituted a threat to abortion providers. Nearly all ISPs have language in their contracts that provide for restrictions on site content and remedies for illegal and unwarranted behavior. Users see this and realize the ISP isn't completely neutral-something more than a conduit, something less than a censor.

I don't want my ISP to be a law enforcement agency any more than I want my medical care to be determined by an underwriting clerk. It's not their job. But I might not mind an ISP offering blocking services—even for a fee. If parents don't have time to keep blocking lists up-to-date (or even install the blocking software in the first place), maybe they would be willing to have an ISP do it. The same might apply to spam, viruses, or other blocking type services where professional expertise might be a real benefit. Why not?

Obviously I'm not speaking for everybody, although in this column I'll strive to represent both Joe Public and Mr. Solid Corporate Customer—your service users. I'll look forward to responses (up to and through moderate flames) as nelsonking@earthlink.net