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2 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 9 (2012)
The Myth of Perfection

handle is hein.journals/wflron2 and id is 9 raw text is: THE MYTH OF PERFECTION Derek E. Bambauer* Cyberlaw is plagued by the myth of perfection. Consider three examples: censorship, privacy, and intellectual property. In each, the rhetoric and pursuit of perfection has proved harmful, in ways this Essay will explore. And yet the myth persists- not only because it serves as a potent metaphor, but because it disguises the policy preferences of the mythmaker. Scholars should cast out the myth of perfection, as Lucifer was cast out of heaven. In its place, we should adopt the more realistic, and helpful, conclusion that often good enough is... good enough. Start with Internet censorship. Countries such as China, Iran, and Vietnam use information technology to block their citizens from accessing on-line material that each government dislikes. Democracies, too, filter content: Britain blocks child pornography using the Cleanfeed system,1 and South Korea prevents users from reaching sites that support North Korea's government.2 This filtering can be highly effective: China censors opposition political content pervasively,3 and Iran blocks nearly all pornographic sites (along with political dissent).4 However, even technologically sophisticated systems, like China's Golden Shield, are vulnerable to circumvention. Users can employ proxy servers or specialized software, such as Tor, to access proscribed sites.5 This permeability has led many observers to conclude that effective censorship is impossible, because censorship is inevitably * Associate Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School (through spring 2012); Associate Professor of Law, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law (beginning fall 2012). Thanks for helpful suggestions and discussion are owed to Jane Yakowitz Bambauer, Dan Hunter, Thinh Nguyen, Derek Slater, and Chris Soghoian. The author welcomes comments at derek.bambauer@brooklaw.edu. 1. Richard Clayton, Failures in a Hybrid Content Blocking System, in PRIVACY ENHANCING TECHNOLOGIES: 5TH INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP PET 2005 78 (George Danezis & David Martin eds., 2006). 2. Eric S. Fish, Is Internet Censorship Compatible With Democracy? Legal Restrictions of Online Speech in South Korea, ASIA-PAC. J. HUM. RTS. & THE L. (forthcoming 2012), available at http:/papers.ssrn.comnsol3;Daners.cfr? abstract id=1489621. 3. China, OpenNet (June 15, 2009), httD-,//ooennet.net/research/profiles/ china -includin.-hone-kon. 4. Iran, OpenNet (June 16, 2009), http://opennet.net/research/profiles/iran. 5. See, e.g., James Fallows, The Connection Has Been Reset, THE ATLANTIC (March 2008), http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/03/-Id uo-the- connection-has-been-reset-rdauo/6650/. 9 10 Asia-Pac. J. on Hum. Rts. & L. 43

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