January 28, 1997

CYBERsitter Correspondence Round 2

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The MoJo Wire:

To: bmilburn@solidoak.com
From: Jennifer Hattam
Subject: CYBERsitter blocking policy question
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997

Mr. Milburn,

It has been reported to The MoJo Wire that CYBERsitter is currently blocking The Ethical Spectacle (http://www.spectacle.org). Please let me know if this is correct, and if so, which part of your policy they violated (i.e. why are they being blocked?).

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Jennifer Hattam
MoJo Wire Fellow

Solid Oak’s response:

From: terminator@solidoak.com (The Terminator)
To: Jennifer Hattam
Organization: Solid Oak Software, Inc.
Subject: Re: CYBERsitter blocking policy question
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997

Dear Sender,

Unfortunately, we do not accept unsolicited e-mail that is intended to be harassing, is politically motivated, or in any way offensive to the employees at Solid Oak Software.

Therefor[sic], we will appreciate your cooperation in not contacting this company again regarding these issues.

What we can tell you is that CYBERsitter has absolutely no "hidden political agenda", regardless of what our critics might try to claim. The site in question is blocked by CYBERsitter simply because it publishes or maintains links to other sites that publ[sic]

When a customer purchases our product, they have every right to expect and demand that reasonable efforts be expended on our part to insure that once CYBERsitter is installed, its operation be as secure as possible.

Any site that publishes information that lessens the value of our product to our customers, or makes an overt effort to subvert parental rights to supervise and control the on-line activities of their minor children, will be blocked.

Thank-you

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate