🚀 go-pugleaf

In <Co16y0.5vG@reptiles.org> jim@reptiles.org (Jim Mercer) writes:

>just don't stick it on someone else's machine so they catch the grief.

I agree with you in the case of ftp. Since ftp servers are locatable
in space, sticking things on someone else's machine w/o permission is
bad form, with or without breaking other laws. 

Usenet, otoh, isn't "someone elses machine" in this sense. Placing
material on someone else's machine is their choice for subscribing,
not yours for posting. The net, unlike individual ftp sites, doesn not
have a geographical location, so if we start a precedent that US
citizens should respect Canadian law and vice versa, should we cancel
all alt.sex groups to help out England? What happens when N. Korea
jacks in? China has already indicated a willingness to gut cable and
satellite tv offerings to its citizens; should we collaborate in
similarly gutting Usenet?

>as a side note, i'd argue that the Clipper/NSA issue is not just an american
>problem.  canada abides by, endorses and similarly resticts the current
>DES export laws, and i haven't seen anything that convinces me that they
>wouldn't force canadians to live under the rule of Clipper as well.

This is true. That thing is the biggest threat to what our Supreme
Court Justice Blackmun so eloquently called "the freedom to be left alone"
in a long time, and I'm sure the NSA's plans for distribution and
control cover all of NAFTA.

-- 
Clay Shirky