[MUD-Dev] Wild west (was Guilds & Politics)

[JC Lawrence]

On Mon, 5 Jan 1998 19:57:08 PST8PDT Ola wrote:

> (BTW I would feel pretty bad if the
> government implanted some reporting device in my brain, or put
> cameras on each streetcorner.)

Note that the video cameras on every street corner model proposed in
Helsinki and other places was based on the idea that those cameras
would be freely and readily accessable by __any__ interested party.
Its a variation on Big Brother where everybody has the opportunity to
watch everybody else all the time, and the Govt has no control of what
is watched, or who watches.

> Guilty unless logged? That's pretty horrible.  Anyway. Think about
> this.  Your MUD is research with human testobjects, do whatever you
> want as long as it follows guidelines for such research.

There is a key difference -- players can bail at any instant without
any expense.  

> It isn't the same... yet.  Anyway, the trauma is RL, the feelings
> are real.  Ruling over other people is ruling over other people.  If
> the RL government were monitoring me but would guarantee to not put
> me in jail etc, would I like it, would I approve? NO!

In the final analysis, if something is seen but nothing results from
that having been seen, does it really matter?

> When will snooping and logging be wrong then?  When everything is
> done through a virtual world?  Where are the limits?  Private
> communication is real, not artificial braindead entertainment of no
> value?

I probably shouldn't note here that I consider a life itself to be a
communication, and thus a point of responsibility and record for that
individual.  If that individual considers, rightly or wrongly, that
portions of that life were reprehensible or otherwise less than
admirable, then that is their choice in engaging in those activities.

I will make a special, and very limited modification (its not an
exception) to the above where the trigger is the timing of the release
of the data.  On occassion timing is critical -- but rarely is it
necesary for an evaluation.

Privacy?  Sure.  That is an application of the above modification in
controlloing the timing of the release of data.  

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
                                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
----------(*)                        Internet: jc.lawrence at sun.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...