Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 18:23:06 -0700 (PDT) From: "Eric J. Schwertfeger" <ejs@bfd.com> To: Sysadmin <danlaw@rust.net> Cc: isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How many customers read news (was Re: News...) Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95.970422181148.20977C-100000@harlie.bfd.com> In-Reply-To: <335D5AB6.16D9@rust.net>
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On Tue, 22 Apr 1997, Sysadmin wrote: > Eric J. Schwertfeger wrote: > > > > On Tue, 22 Apr 1997, Sysadmin wrote: > > > > > What country is this you live in? In the United States, we have civil > > > liberty laws prohibiting such behaviour by law enforcement officials, > > > of course I am not aware of the situation where you live, but I don't > > > see why Usenet should be governed based on the activities of a police > > > state where a distributor is treated as a publisher of information. > > O.K., so we're not in a police state, but this isn't the land of the free > > anymore. We've given up freedom for security, and there's a rather famous > > quote on that one. > > Personally I refuse to let my life be run by paranoia, even if I have > real enemies. Good for you. This wasn't meant to sound as a personal attack. I'm just trying to point out that as ethical as your stand may be, you have to accept that push come to shove, you're going to be fighting for your livelyhood with a deck stacked against you. Anyone with your stance that is ready to fight the good fight has made an informed decision. Anyone with your stance that blindly accepts the top paragraph could very well be in for a rude surprize. Personally, I don't think that the small ISP has to worry on a statistical basis. Someone may go after a small ISP once to establish precidence, easier against a company with a smaller legal budget, but after that, it would be more effective to go after the large ISPs and make a few examples. O.K., now I'm sounding paranoid, but my wife had a friend who lost his life, and one of her aquantances lost his business, all in the name of the war on drugs, and neither had ever done, bought, or sold drugs. If the same attitude is used on the war on internet porn, we could all be in serious trouble.
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