Re: AxSys, Rights etc

[Kim Flint <kflint@annihilist.com>]

At 4:56 PM -0700 7/26/99, Michael P. Hughes, PhD wrote:
>> Kim, you're full of shit.  There are thousands of examples of case law 
>(in
>> the US anyway) that prove what you say to be untrue: organizations 
>cannot
>> deprive their employees, their members, or (in this case) their 
>subscribers
>> of rights granted specifically by their country's laws.
>
>Don't worry, Kim; if it makes you feel better, censor me (and avoid legal
>infringement)!
>
>Mike (non-US)

What, me worry?

Fact is, there are no such laws. Here in the US, we have this remarkable
phenomon where it's possible to quote all sorts of rights granted us by our
constitution, without ever having actually read the document. I think you
Europeans make fun of us quite a bit for that, and rightly so, but we have
bigger guns than you so we don't care. For the record, the 1st ammendment
of the US constitution goes thusly:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise therof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Which is pretty cool, but note that first word there. Some people get
confused and think this bit of text protects their speech from other
citizens and non-government entities, but it doesn't. It just protects
people from the government. Since I'm not a member of congress or any other
government entity, this doesn't apply to me. I could in fact restrict what
people say here on my mailing list any way I want, same as a newspaper
editor can restrict what is printed in the paper by the reporters working
for him, and same as the zillions of moderated internet mailing lists
already do. I just choose not to, because I think it's better that people
can say what they want without worry. Bubbling cauldron of social discourse
and all that.

Well, that's not completely true, because I now prevent spammers and other
outsiders from posting here, so speech is partly restricted on LD. But
then, there are also numerous US laws restricting speech - slander, libel,
copyright, trademark, assault, truth-in-advertising, SEC, etc.

Of course, the list is currently running from a server in Saudi Arabia, so
none of this matters. ;-)

kim


______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                   | Looper's Delight
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