On Wed, Feb 06, 2002 at 10:11:14AM -0800, Ian Clarke wrote: > I am concerned about CofE's comments with-respect to people censoring > their own datastores, in that I don't think people are seeing how > dangerous this could be. > > Consider a scenario: Joe Bloggs installs the "KiddiePornBeGone(tm)" > software in a well-meaning attempt to support the wider goals of Freenet > without helping pedophiles. A few months later the police come knocking > on his door, and he gets dragged to court. When he gets there he > discovers a bunch of well-paid Church of Scientology lawyers. They show > evidence that they were able to request CoS trade secrets from his node > (detailing how they believe us all to be infested by aliens and only by > giving all our money to them can we get rid of these "thetans"). Joe > looks at the judge in disbelief - "But they could have got those through > any node they requested them from, there is nothing special about me". > "Ah," replies the CoS lawyer "you already run KiddiePornBeGone, so you > are obviously capable of controlling what can be requested through your > node, and thus you are responsible for it. If Mr Bloggs was running our > "LiesBeGone(tm)" software then he could easily avoid violating our trade > secrets and breaking the law". The judge (keen to finish up with this > case so that he can get to his Scientology meeting), is convinced, and > Joe is locked up for life. > > Other Freenet users look on in fear, and most obediently download and > install "LiesBeGone(tm)" to avoid the same fate. Suddenly the Church of > Scientology decides what is and isn't permitted on Freenet.
I see two flaws in this scenario. One is that we all know that WhackAMole(tm) key censoring software simply won't work. The other is that at least under the DMCA (and probably any similar laws around the world) the CoS would have to ask the node operator to remove the keys from his node before taking him to court. -tc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 240 bytes Desc: not available URL: <https://emu.freenetproject.org/pipermail/chat/attachments/20020206/0cfa9121/attachment.pgp>
