🚀 go-pugleaf

In <Co7Du3.Dx0@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca> nishri@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca (Alex Nishri) writes:

>Americans are forbidden from phoning Cuba directly themselves.  I think we
>can all agree that this limits free speech between those in the USA and
>those in Cuba.  Of course, most Canadians respect the right of the USA to
>enact its own laws.  But say, hypothetically, that a Canadian company
>offered the following service: Americans could phone a number in Canada,
>get a second dial tone, and then dial direct to Cuba.  (Without going into
>details, this is not fiction.)

I had forgotten about this excellent service. This is a perfect
example of ways in which telecommunications can prevent governments
from restricting information. 

>Americans are forbidden from listening to certain radio frequencies.  In
>fact, shortly it will be illegal to sell radios in the USA capable of
>tuning in these forbidden frequencies.  In Canada a private individual can
>legally listen to any frequency and radios banned for sale in the USA are
>perfectly legal.  Again, I am sure most Canadians respect the American
>right to enact laws restricting its citizens.  However, hypothetically
>speaking only, what if a Canadian radio distributor assisted Americans who
>believe that freedom of speech is the same as having the right to know
>everything by selling them radios which tune frequencies forbidden in the
>USA?

Another excellent example. A good furthering of this idea within
cyberspace would be an ITR-style archive of banned frequencies. this
would be difficult now, but in a few years, it would be possible to
set up an asynchronous "Radio Free America" archive, stored on foreign
soil and accessible from the net.



-- 
Clay Shirky