Richard Sexton wrote,
> Show me where is says the internet was created as a public
> resource. Or, if it was created as a private resource, show me
> where this was made into a public resource.
>
Even Canadian civics classes fall short, I guess. Public
'resources' -- what used to be called the public domain until it got
to be too confusing -- do not need an enactment in order to exist.
On the contrary, AFAIK, everywhere it has been the concept of
private property which had to be legislatively created against the
common ground.
Perhaps quoting Bill L will help:
> De facto becomes de jure, and that is how the common law comes
> about. No end of statutes refer to "accepted business practices"
> or "community standards" or the like as the standard against which
> some specific conduct is measured, so people who write RFCs or set
> up protocols or distribute roots in whatever way are in fact
> writing the "law" on which future decisions will be made, whether
> they know it or not.
I think it's safe to say that when private interests get together to
*accept some 'acceptable' business practice or to uphold some
standard of community conduct, they are (re-)creating/ defining
public space whether they know it or not.
I might add, its a bit discouraging to see so many imaginative
types react unthinkingly to a mere word, instead of adopting it as
part of their arsenal - I mean, repertoire.
kerry
