Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2000 17:22:48 -0800 (PST) From: Ken McGlothlen <mcglk@serv.net> To: PATRICIA ZOUZOUNIS <pzouzounis@i-star.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Fwd: Fwd: yahoo clubs for teens pornographic Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.02.10011051656050.93826-100000@itchy.serv.net> In-Reply-To: <B0001689075@mail.i-star.com>
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Hello, Patricia. I should take the time to point out that I am not officially affiliated with freebsd.org in any way. I am a participant (among a few thousand participants) on the mailing list you sent mail to, however. The list, in case you're curious, is a "club," of sorts, of interested users of a particular software package called "FreeBSD," where we gather to trade questions and answers. I am also in no way affiliated with yahoo.com. In fact, there is no official affiliation at all between freebsd.org and yahoo.com. As it happens, Yahoo uses FreeBSD to run their systems. While I'm sympathetic regarding your shock at discovering the range of interests on Yahoo's sites, complaining to freebsd.org would be akin to complaining to Pentax or Nikon about their "affiliation" with Playboy photographers. The FreeBSD software is an "operating system" with no particular agenda, and it can be used in a variety of ways, some of which I'm sure some of us would find offensive. But I'm fairly sure that freebsd.org does not want to be in a position of determining how people should use the software, nor do they wish to police its use. It should be used in any way the user wishes it to be used, and the organization has no wish to dictate terms or limit its users' freedom of speech in any way. I'm sure that while some of the content you ran into is offensive, in your opinion (and, as I said, certainly in the opinions of some of the participants of *this* list), I must gently object to your assertion that Yahoo is "clearly and deliberatly making this trash available to our kids." You might as easily say that the US Government is doing the same, or FreeBSD, or for that matter, God (who most certainly permits this sort of thing on a regular basis, for better or worse). Yahoo supports all sorts of interests, and does not try to limit the content or range of those interests except in clearly illegal cases. Yahoo plays the role of a "common carrier," and is not responsible for any of the specific content posted at its site. And there are a lot of people out there with profoundly different standards and interests than you, so running into this sort of thing, at times, is inevitable, just as it might be at a library or your corner store or in other real life situations. While I understand your concern, there's nothing that leads me to believe that complaining to Microsoft (for example) or FreeBSD or most other companies (including major television networks, who already air some pretty interesting stuff, and are certainly aware of some of the clubs you can find on the Net) will sway Yahoo in this regard. Yahoo isn't a particularly kid-oriented place, to be honest; another site run by Yahoo might be much more kid-friendly: http://www.yahooligans.com/ However, it might be a little too kid-oriented for a 13-year-old. I might suggest instead some of the following: http://www.kidlink.org/ http://www.cyberteens.com/ http://www.gettingreal.com/ http://www.alloy.com/ http://www.teen-net.com/ KidLink is designed for kids from roughly 7-15; it may be a little on the immature side. CyberTeens allows chatting, games, and creative links. GettingReal is for older teens, I think, but in general, it's an honest site. Alloy.com is more of a fashion and gossip site, probably more tuned to the female teenager. And Teen-net is more of a teen entertainment site. Like all responsible parents, you will probably want to look over these sites before deciding whether you want your son exposed to them at this time. And ultimately, it really is up to you---neither Yahoo or FreeBSD or any other company can be nearly as good of a parent as you can. We can only take moral responsibility for our own lives. You don't want strangers on the Net teaching your kids moral responsibility, certainly; that quite rightly should be your job, and others in coordination with you. Best of luck to you and yours. ---Ken To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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