Journal heliocentric's Journal: Censorship, the Do Not Call List, and my solution(s) 7

I've been wanting to write a JE on the topic of censorship and what I feel is and is not censorship and the timeliness of the legal debate about freedom of speech and the national (US) Do Not Call List seems to make my argument appropriate.

For those who are not in the know, the US nation-wide do not call list is a concept that is trying to be made real by the US government. This list would enable residents to list themselves so that telemarketers will not be allowed to phone them at all. If a telemarketer breaks this rule they face fines and the person they call will get some money out of the deal. The issue with regards to censorship here is that the proposed solution would limit the "for profit" telemarketers but not things such as religious groups and politicians. The argument then is that this would serve as a government-sponsored promotion of one kind of speech over another, thus reducing the free speech that makes the US great. The concept that we go to war so that others can say horrible and hateful things that most despise is a great American institution.

Well, now is for the part where I put in my two cents. I think we just solve that little problem by not allowing anyone to call that isn't a private citizen calling to talk, not churches, not big corporations, not little corporations, and not politicians. This would never happen because it would be like biting the hand that feeds it, and for some reason people hold organized religion in a high regard and look away at the constant request for handouts and support, but I will stay away from the religion thing.

At this time I would like to introduce a quote from the latest 2600 magazine. This one I felt was very poignant for the topic of editor mods, but we'll try it for this subject.

You are not silencing anyone by removing the open board posting scheme. You're simply not playing host to opinions you find offensive or destructive by permitting them on your site. We find that sometimes people feel the only way to be fair is to allow everyone to say whatever they want in any forum without any sort of control. All that ensures is complete chaos and the eventual destruction of whatever community has been built.

It is essential to not restrict expression and opinions in our society. But that doesn't mean you have to allow others to destroy what you're trying to do. For instance, if we printed everything that was sent to us, the message of 2600 would soon be lost in a lot of gibberish. Are we denying freedom of speech to those whose words we choose to not print? Not at all - they still have their freedom of speech. If their words were made illegal by the government or if they were otherwise silenced, that would be a clear abridgment of their rights[,] which would be of concern to anyone regardless of whether or not they agreed with the speech itself.

All that open board posting does is dilute what it is you want to put out and make it so much easier for hostile forces to shut you down. What you offer is not a finite resource. Others can run their own boards and websites. Now if you were a broadcaster using public airwave that are most definitely finite, then you would have the obligation to give others access. At least in theory. The way things have gone in our society lately, that freedom has been pretty much bought and sold. But that's another story.

I hope you can see the relevance to the editors silencing whomever they want. Granted, I don't usually agree with what they do, but it is their sandbox and I agree that they should be allowed to do so. Now, on the topic of identifying an editor's work versus the community, well, that's a different subject.

So, back to the telemarketer thing. The proposal to allow some forms of speech and not others is a form of government-sponsored censorship. It is not the direct promotion of one belief or saying over another, it is the denouncing of one versus another, which is equally bad. Granted, I do not want telemarketers calling me, but I also don't like the government bending the rules now, as it may be my speech later that gets absorbed. Yeah, ok, I made a slippery slope thing that is typically seen as the words of a conspiracy weirdo, but I still feel that we need to allow all forms of speech, even those I disagree with.

So, what should we do? Well, on one hand I think we do as I said earlier, toss out the babies with the bathwater and don't allow anyone to call. But I have an entirely different solution that would require a complete change to the current ideas. The idea is that we make a National Do-Call List. This list is initially empty, and no one other than private citizens may call me. If you are calling representing something, a sports team, a politician, a religion, a product, a service, anything, then you can't call me.

At this point I haven't really gotten to any of the good stuff yet, I've just made an inverse of the list idea, keep reading. To sign up means that I must submit an actual letter signed by myself (the person who pays the phone bill). I cannot be tricked by some user agreement for software or by shopping at some store. When I sign up I can describe any window of telemarketer opportunity I wish, with a minimum of one continuous hour per week*, but I decide the day and the time of such things. I can get fine granularity of 1 hour on this day, and 2 here on another, that's my choice. I may also say, "I'm completely open and invite your calls at any time on any day," if I so desire. All times and day decisions are based on my local time zone.

I may remove myself from this list or update my call-time preferences at anytime and have this alteration be effective within one month, and I must renew my being on this list every two years (I'm flexible here, want to make it three or five years, I'm fine with it).

Another rule is that all calls for the non-private-citizen purposes must have a "Telemarketer ID" listed in the caller-ID block. This means that private Joe-citizen running a business from home will either have to have all of his regular private calls promoted to this level, or he will need a second phone line. Tough tinsel, deal with it. Also, by my signing up for this Do Call List I will receive free caller-ID service and if requested the free rental of the magic decoder box. This service will be paid for by the telemarketers' action of purchasing the Do Call List on a monthly basis.

Any violations of these things (times, days, funding of caller-ID, proper listing of ID) will result in fines** AND the caller is not permitted to phone anyone for a year (UPDATE: I guess I could be flexible here, like 3 months for first offense but longer for multiple offenses or for calling people at 3AM, and just have the fine reflect this amount of time). The price for subscription to the list will vary as the number of people sign up and the number of telemarketers wishing to subscribe fluctuate.

((list.numCitizens() * callerIDCost) - anyFines + administrativeCosts) / list.numTelemarks() = cost per telemarketer.

* - you can't have 6 days with 10 minutes each to get your hour.
** - some $$ for the consumer (like a grand or two) and enough for a one year payment (the 12 monthly installments) of the list plus a few grand for the list itself.