On Thu, 7 Apr 1994, Sam Lanfranco wrote:
> Whee! First attacks on Economists as have genetic tendencies then the
> Barrows Hall gang at Berkeley tossing barbs at we friendly World Series
> Loving Canadians. Sorry to have to set the record straight re WIRED.
>
> WIRED was not banned in Canada. I have a perfectly good copy of it here
> on my desk with the other Mister Bill (Gates not Clinton) on the cover.
> Weeeellll, not exactly perfectly good. It is missing pages 27/28 and
> 29/30. Canada didn't ban the book, only those pages with the "Paul and Karla
> Hit the Net" article which those lurking behind Sproul Hall had the gall
> to send here in violation of Canadian law.
Thanks for the correction, Sam.
I'm glad the censors in Canada have the surgical precision of a smart
bomb, wiping out civil liberties and the free press in careful measure.
The censoring of USENET groups seems to have been slightly less surgical.
I am curious. Do you approve of this censorship, especially the attacks
on direct e-mail messages on the Internet?
I know the right to a fair trial is important, but it is chilling to give
the government the ability to completely shutdown coverage of legal
trials. I can imagine that the government would have loved to shutdown
coverage of the Rodney King LA Police trials in the name of a "fair trial."
It also brings up the interesting issue of how an international
communication system like the Internet is going to interact with national
laws and censorship.
--Nathan Newman, squirming with a bit of pride over the US First Amendment
