Sam Joseph ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> Should we defend the rights of those disseminating ideas that help
> governments oppress individuals?
Huh? You think an Evil Dictator is going to come to Freenet for ideas
about how to run his oppressive government?
"I just couldn't figure out how to raise that tax rate on the lowest
percentile above the 84% barrier without killing too many people to make
it economically unfeasible. But then I saw R0tt3n T0mat0's freesite,
and her Evil Dictator HOWTO, and now I've got my peons working 21-hour
shifts! I'm a Freenet believer!"
> Seems to me like there is a fundamental gap between the right to
> expressing one's opinion and the right to distribute images, files,
> whatever. Maybe we can't draw the line in terms of computer technology,
> maybe the line is just in my head, but it seems different to me. Does
> it seem different to you Ian? Am I just some madman?
We've tried that for decades now. Some people are still trying it.
It's my opinion that this is no longer feasible. Any attempt to restrict
the distribution of computer data requires such intolerable levels of
policing that it cannot be supported in a nominally democratic regime.
You might have seen these already, but if not, take some time to look
over these links:
http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/my_pubs/anarchism.html
http://media-in-transition.mit.edu/forums/copyright/index_transcript.html
Moglen and Stallman have expressed these ideas better than I could have.
In Stallman's speech, the relevant section is where he compares the
copy-policing policies of the former Soviet Union to what the USA is
doing right now.
> Maybe the bottom line is that we have to make it free to distribute all
> kinds of data under any circumstances, which is what Freenet advocates,
> right?
There may be cases where it's morally wrong to distribute information --
for example, other people's medical records, credit card numbers, etc.
But the price we would have to pay in order to prevent this from occurring
is too high. For one thing, we'd have to prohibit private ownership
of communications equipment -- after all, someone with a ham radio could
broadcast credit card numbers to the world.
> Why does that make me feel uncomfortable? Am I just some crazy
> facist who has to overcome his terrible inhibitions and embrace the
> brave new world?
I don't think your ideas are fascist -- they're very much mainstream in
western countries.
Everyone who is thinking about these issues is facing these same
questions, or similar ones. I don't have perfect answers to them any
more than you do. But I prefer to err on the side of freedom, than on
the side of control.
--
Greg Wooledge | "Truth belongs to everybody."
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
http://wooledge.org/~greg/ |
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