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Letters to Solid Oak Software

These are some letters that were sent to Solid Oak Software, the manufacturers of CYBERsitter, from Internet users concerned about the recent controversies over CYBERsitter blocking Peacefire, the Ethical Spectacle, and other sites that criticize their product.

You can write to Brian Milburn, the CEO of Solid Oak Software, at bmilburn@solidoak.com. Please send us a carbon copy of your letter if you do, and indicate whether or not you would mind if we archived it on our web site.

The letters are divided into several catagories:
Parents who will not use Cyber Sitter
    C het Simpson (Jul 1997) -" I am definitely of the opinion that many of the actions your company is engaged in are borderline illegal if not extremely illegal."
    Richard Yanowitz (Apr 1997) -"But your software would have cut him off from much that has helped make him a thoughtful, caring, discriminating young man; and I fear that today's young people will be greatly victimized, often without even knowing it, by use of your software."

Consultants or reviewers who will not use Cyber Sitter

    Austin Ziegler -"If you have that little respect for anyone who has legitimate concerns about your software and the standards involved in producing your software, you certainly cannot have respect for family, friends, or clients of mine."
    David Gwynn -" Lastly, is it also true that ALL addresses within a specific domain are systematically blocked when more than one site within that domain contains material which your organization finds objectionable? Frankly, does this not seem to be a fairly efficient manner of eventually blocking the entire Internet?"

Why does Cyber Sitter block Peacefire?

    Harry Hochheiser (CPSR) (Dec 1996) -" Furthermore, your approach to blocking Internet content is deeply troubling from a free speech perspective. While certain individuals have legitimate concerns regarding potentially offensive content on the Internet, CYBERSitter provides on overly broad solution to the problem."
    Steve Freekin (Dec 1996) -" I was astonished and dismayed to learn of your company's treatment of Bennett Haselton and his Peacefire Web site in response to his inquiries about your software's blocking of the Institute for Global Communications site and other political sites."

Why I don't like Cyber Sitter

    T odd Penland -" Furthermore, the wholesale blocking of informational web-sites such as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and NOW indicate a bias on the part of your company that I find quite troubling."
    Ronald Kimball -" I wish to express my opinion that the actions of your company in this matter are arrogant and inappropriate."

Questioning Solid Oak's legal grounds

    Anonymou s -" I am currently a law student, coincidentally studying copyright law. For the first statement, I'm not sure which IP law Peacefire's program is violating, and for the second statement, I am curious what sort of trespassing is taking place."

Why is the filter file encrypted?

    Bernard van Stavern -"I have advised the majority of my customers NOT to use CYBERsitter or I have advised them to install one of my utilities which blocks the CYBERsitters call to look for files that indicate visits to certain sites."
    Lindsay Haisley -" If I have a room in my house which I don't want my kids to enter, I decide what goes in it, lock the door and keep the key myself. I would not trust a third party to either keep this key, or to make decisions on my behalf regarding what is to be kept locked away."
    Edd Paybe -"Surely it is not up to group of censors in some room somewhere to say 'hey, that site's on the left - it might pose a danger to our indoctrination campaign' and then not tell anybody, even those people who have bought the program?"

Examples of Solid Oak's unprofessional responses

    Jon-Paul Brown -" Censorship is still censorship. I can tell your education by how you responded to this e-mail and the one by "phreddd". You obviously cannot see the adverse effects (can you understand the big words?) of censorship. The US government picks up on private businesses that it likes, and it will use it for it's own advantage. "
    Blake Kritzberg -" Here's some more adolescent grammatical and conjugational errors Blakie boy...Go stick your pecker in a door and slam it! Oh yeah, don't send us any more e-mail. We flat out are not interested in your opinion. Got it?"
    T erminator (Solid Oak) -" Thank-you for your message. It's not often that we get feedback from someone of your considerable comedic talents. We feel a bit selfish however. While you are being so kind to spend time entertaining us, a village somewhere is being deprived of their id"

VIP's

    Pea cefire's lawyer responds to Solid Oak -" You state that Mr. Haselton has placed links to various Solid Oak sites on the www.peacefire.org site. Of course you are correct, but your assertion that Mr. Haselton needed permission to do this is nonsense."
    Lawyer from Sex, Laws and Cyberspace responds to Solid Oak -" Your actions in blocking Bennett Haselton's Peacefire.org site and in threatening his ISP with a total block of all its subscribers are extremely reprehensible and reflect very poorly on your company."

Official Responses from Solid Oak