[10089] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: What goes around, comes around
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Karl Denninger)
Sun Feb 6 23:58:28 1994
From: karl@mcs.com (Karl Denninger)
To: sean@dsl.pitt.edu (Sean McLinden)
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 1994 22:44:49 -0600 (CST)
Cc: karl@mcs.com, dave@oldcolo.com, PAUL@tdr.com, com-priv@psi.com,
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9402061049.B17118-0100000@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu> from "Sean McLinden" at Feb 6, 94 10:42:28 am
> On Sun, 6 Feb 1994, Karl Denninger wrote:
>
> > However, he didn't do that. Instead, he posted 5.5kb to 1500 newsgroups
> > <one at a time>. That is, he consumed rahter more than 5.5kb -- in fact,
> > he consumed somewhat over 5MB, or more than 10% of one day's normal
> > newsflow.
> >
> > We got all 1500 copies. Even over a T1, it took a bit of time. For those
> > paying by the hour, including some of our customers, it cost REAL money --
> > THEIR money.
> >
> > Note that time, place and manner restrictions have been upheld as not in
> > violation of the First Ammendment as long as they're reasonable and do not
> > prevent the speech from taking place.
> >
> > You do NOT have the right to capriciously spend someone else's connect
> > dollars on something like this, especially when you do so in a grossly
> > inefficient manner.
>
> Isn't that one of the core considerations of an "open society", that each
> person's liberty costs all of us something.
Liberty? Since <when> does liberty exist in <this> form? You're inventing
rights out of whole cloth -- rights that the US Constitution and Bill of
Rights <DO NOT> and never have guaranteed.
Freedom of the press belongs to those who own presses. This person
effectively came into all our offices and homes and <STOLE> our presses.
Now, you can say that we make those presses publically available. Yes, we
do. But that access comes with a code of conduct which is, in the large,
agreed to and obeyed. When it is violated we have the right to seek
sanction for the violation.
Again, it was not the <content> of his message that I objected to. It was
the manner in which he sent the content.
If you wish to argue that this restriction should not apply, I'm sure you
won't mind someone sitting outside your window at 3:00 AM with a bullhorn
preaching about the coming of Satan and that you should embrace him now!
Certainly, everyone has a right to free speech, yes?
> Although I found myself irritated at the inappropriateness of the posting
> I could not help but find wonder in the fact that at no time in our
> previous history has an unknown individual had such power to speak to so
> many people (except by killing a celebrity). It is also amazing to me,
> that with nearly 20 million people having access to this media, incidents
> like these are relatively uncommon.
Probably because most people have the good common sense to realize that
with the ability to speak comes the responsibility to do so with some
measure of, if not decorum, respect for the property of others.
--
--
Karl Denninger (karl@MCS.COM) | MCSNet - Full Internet Connectivity (shell,
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