I'm working an idea out in my head and I could really use the input of a few dozen ego-maniacal misfits. The idea is the Universal Web Liberty Statement. The UWLS will list actions that responsible webmasters will take to support liberty on the web for all participants. Areas to be covered should include privacy, anonymity, access, and freedom of speech. What else am I missing? If you would like to help, please take a look at the draft. Thanks! W
Hmmm... It was good enough. All important points have been covered. I believe major web companies like Google and Yahoo have similar codes of conduct. A nice attempt by you. Appreciated.
What was that about? You don't need any help. You just wanted to provoke reaction, isn't it? What a waste of time...
Your draft looks good. I'm not sure if there is much more that would need to be covered. Best of luck
- That's what I was thinking... Not only google ads, but those annoying popup bubble ads... - How would this be enforced? - Why would users care if a site follows these, if there's no other alternative site to access the specific content?
Most of them have privacy statements, but not liberty statements. This leads to Yahoo helping the Red Chinese suppress human rights by sending web dissidents to forced labor camps. This also leads to Google YouTube canceling the account of the Egyptian dissident who posted videos of Egyptian police beating and torturing citizens. I'm thinking less along the lines of a privacy statement and more along the lines of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That's a good point, thanks! Liberty should include the liberty to control your own machine. Economic liberty is one of the most important facets of total liberty. As Hayek stated, "To be controlled in our economic pursuits means to be controlled in everything." Advertisers have great power to support or limit the effective liberty of publishers. The reverse is also true. It wouldn't. It is each organizations right to support or oppose liberty. This is less about enforcement and more about mind share. I'd like to see people thinking about liberty. Not just their own liberty, but everyones liberty. It's a big web, there are almost always alternatives. When was the last time you saw a search term with just one result?
It'll probably fall under access, but I feel there should be some child welfare statements in terms of objectionable content.
Matt: You're thinking more in terms of an AUP than a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I'm really not interested in documenting what I don't want people to do on the Internet.
Fair enough, that makes sense. I'm a big believer that with rights come responsibilities, so it's probably that thats sending me off at a tangent