Return-path: Date: Sat, 07 Dec 1996 07:11:26 -0800 From: Brian Milburn Subject: Re: why has the phate of phreddd bephallen me To: bennett haselton Organization: Solid Oak Software, Inc. The following is a boilerplate response that we are issuing to anyone _reasonably_ requesting information on this action. *begin* Peacefire.org is not blocked because of it's content. It's operator, Bennett Haselton has amply demonstrated his intent to exercise whatever actions possible to reduce the effectiveness of our product and is a published opponent of content filtering in general. What he doesn't understand is that CYBERsitter is a profit generating product and not a political tool. Our customers are mostly parents who have the absolute right to control what their children have access to. Mr. Haselton has no right to influence parental decisions in any way. Accordingly, our customers have the right to expect the software they purchased will function as advertised, and be as secure as possible. Mr. Haselton's actions, not simply the content of his web page, are the reason his site is now blocked. We believe that he has proprietary information in his possession that could reduce the effectiveness of our product and cause potential damage to our customers. Therefor, Mr. Haselton and his web pages will be blocked wherever they may be. Keep in mind that blocking of his site only affects CYBERsitter customers, no one else. Similarly, we have no obligation to justify this action to anyone but our paying customers as it affects only them. This message is being sent as a courtesy, but please be informed that further correspondence on this matter will not be answered. *end* We are not only blocking peacefile.org, we are blocking the complete range of IP addresses allocated to MEDIA3.COM because we believe you are smart enough to figure out that you can change your IP address. Beginning Monday, we will be contacting customers of MEDIA3 (if any) to let them know who is responsible and why 900,000 Internet subscribers no longer will have access to their sites. This is all I will offer. I have turned this over to our attorney for determination what (if any) actions may be taken through legal channels. I will await input on from them next week before deciding what further actions may be considered. On 12/7/96 6:52am you wrote... >i am making no secret of the fact that CYBERsitter has responded toour >criticism by blacklisting our web page, however-- > >if you have a rational explanation for blocking our site, one that is >consistent with your stated goals of blocking web pages that are >"inappropriate for children", i would like to hear it. > > tm > -bennett ____________________________________________ Brian Milburn Solid Oak Software,Inc. - Santa Barbara, CA bmilburn@solidoak.com - CIS: 74774,551 http://www.solidoak.com - CIS: "GO SOLIDOAK"