gnu@sun.uucp (John Gilmore) (06/07/84)
One more and then I'll go away. There seems to be an undercurrent of thought running through this discussion of BBS confiscation. The thought is that it's especially bad to use new technology to break the law, worse than the simple breaking of the law. This kind of parallels the idea that it's worse to conspire with people to commit a crime than it is to just do it by yourself. They're both ways to keep people separated and disorganized. In some states it's illegal to advocate homosexuality, especially if you're a teacher (a CS professor?). I'm sure that a BBS regularly used for gay organizing there, if found by the local blue-law brigade, would be shut down or confiscated (as "evidence" or whatever excuse they can come up with). They claim to seize it because it was used to commit a crime, but it's really that it was a tool that made you more effective in circumventing their obsolete law. I can fight them in court, but their being able to take the BBS puts one more power on their side. I want to see Americans retain the freedom to use technology for whatever purpose, whether or not the government still thinks it's illegal. I'm not happy that the government is trying to use new (eg surveillance and data collection) technology as fast as possible, while making it harder for those it opposes to use technology. It's not even that I agree with the opponents, it's just that I deplore the shift of power. "Love your country, but never trust its government."