Offlist: RE: [thelist] Idea: Distributed CMS.

James Baster evolt at thesinner.co.uk
Thu Feb 27 18:29:01 CST 2003


----- Original Message -----
From: "Aleem Bawany" <aleem.bawany at utoronto.ca>
To: "'James Baster'" <evolt at thesinner.co.uk>
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 9:11 PM
Subject: Offlist: RE: [thelist] Idea: Distributed CMS.


> Interesting idea, something similar - if not the same - as what
> I had thought of some time back and it got me really excited,
> that I posted it (more as a rambling than a proposal)
>
> http://members.evolt.org/aleem/wiki/wakka.php?wakka=TopTenTechnologies

http://freenet.sourceforge.net/  seems to fit your main request for content
with no responsibility or accountability, so much so that there is the
following in there FAQ:

Q: What about child porn, offensive content or terrorism?
A: While most people wish that child pornography and terrorism did not
exist, humanity should not be deprived of their freedom to communicate just
because of how a very small number of people might use that freedom.

Q: I don't want my node to be used to harbor child porn, offensive content
or terrorism. What can I do?
A: The true test of someone who claims to believe in Freedom of Speech is
whether they tolerate speech which they disagree with, or even find
disgusting. If this is not acceptable to you, you should not run a Freenet
node. ......


Myself, I do see control as a very important aspect. My experience running a
university community website is primarily responsible for this.

As a web administrator myself who has been threatned with lawsuits multiple
times becasuse of what others wrote on a website I was responsible for, I
understand the concerns people have when running websites. If I do end up
programming this system, every bit of content will be able to be traced back
to a website, and from the logs and details held privately by that website
to a particular person.  That way, users will still have anonymity and
freedom as they could hide behind a psuedoname, but if they go to far, the
webmaster can report them to the authorities. Of course it is up to the
webmasters to judge on each individual case, and to set general policy for
there group.

As I see it, my code would be used for small communitys of people with
common intrests or situations who simply wish to have a place to meet, and
for whom ensureing freedom of speech will not be a primary motivation. My
beliefs on freedom of speech will probaly start a long debate, and thats not
what I came here for.

> I, myself just graduated and looking for a job right (it keeps you
> more busy than university itself)

Don't depress me ...... :-)

>
> Really exciting stuff!
>
> cheers,
> aleem
>
> [ http://aleembawany.com/ ]
>
>





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