So much for free speech...

At 1:34 PM 11/6/95, s1113645@tesla.cc.uottawa.ca wrote:
>On Mon, 6 Nov 1995, Dr. Frederick B. Cohen wrote:
>
>> In the United States, we have the right to express whatever view we
>> wish, so long as it doesn't endanger others (e.g., insight to riot,
>> scream "fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire, etc.).
>> Everyone has an inherent right to question why a person seeks moments of
>> anonymity or privacy.
>
>You're forgetting our good friends the libel laws. Another reason to go anon.
>You have the right to say whatever you please, but you'll have to be able
>to defend it in court if it damages someone's reputation. It can also get
>you fired. (or shot if you're MLK)


Sadly, the tradition of "free speech" is under assault. On many fronts. The
new "civil rights" laws are just one avenue for the suppression of what was
once considered free speech.

Submitted for your disapproval:

"13-year-old student arrested for racial slurs" (Santa Cruz Sentinel, p. 1,
3 November 1995)

by Michael Green, Redding Record Searchlight

"REDDING -- When a 13-year-old Redding student was arrested for allegedly
making racial slurs, police and school administrators said it was necessary
to maintain order and send a strong message against racism.

"But some legal experts take a dimmer view of the boy's arrest, saying that
calling someone names, even offensive ones, is not a crime and in fact is
constitutionally protected.

...


"The Redding-area boy, who is white, allegedly made racial insults toward a
12-year-old Hispanic student before being arrested last Thursday.

...

"Police Chief Bob Blankeship said he would encourage officers to use the
civil rights laws to stop racial harassment if prosecutors determine it is
appropriate.

...

"The boy was arrested on suspicion of violating the Hispanic student's
civil rights. Penal Code section 422.6 makes it a misdemeanor to interfere
with another person's rights or harm their property because of their race,
gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation."

-----

Wow! "Verbal abuse." Throw away the key. "Freedom does not mean the freedom
to think bad thoughts," as Big Bro once said.

If they don't get you for illegally using random numbers, they'll get you
for uttering incorrect words.

Back to reality. No word on whether prosecution will take place (I doubt
it...this will likely be dropped, now that the message has been sent to the
students, and now that civil rights folks are getting interested).

Children are usually not accorded full constitutional protections,
especially not in public schools, but this does not mean the police should
arrest those who utter the wrong words! (Maybe suspending the student,
though I certainly wouldn't do that.)

This is the "safe and secure" world we are in, where bad thoughts and bad
words are punished. Or threatened with lawsuits. Anarchy seems infinitely
preferable to me.

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Tim May writes:
[...]
> Wow! "Verbal abuse." Throw away the key. "Freedom does not mean the freedom
> to think bad thoughts," as Big Bro once said.
[...]

Indeed. The conviction on my criminal record for verbal abuse is one
of the things that opened my eyes to the true state of "free speech"
in this country.

Raph

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"Freedom shall stops where starts the one of the others"
That's what I learned, and what I think it is a "good thing",
Thus, your freedom of speach shall stops where it starts hurting
people

[not that I support at all the childish way l^Hamericans sue everybody
for anything, but I am happy that racists saying are not allowed and
can be condamned in France.]

dl
--
Laurent Demailly * http://hplyot.obspm.fr/~dl/ * Linux|PGP|Gnu|Tcl|...  Freedom
Prime#1: cent cinq mille cent cinq milliards cent cinq mille cent soixante sept

class struggle domestic disruption Kennedy bomb Saddam Hussein Peking
 Kaser Sose

Laurent Demailly writes:
>"Freedom shall stops where starts the one of the others"
>That's what I learned, and what I think it is a "good thing",
>Thus, your freedom of speach shall stops where it starts hurting
>people
>
>[not that I support at all the childish way l^Hamericans sue everybody
>for anything, but I am happy that racists saying are not allowed and
>can be condamned in France.]

As a child, we all knew the maxim, "Sticks and stones can break my
bones, but names will never hurt me."  Why have we forgotten it as
adults?

Laurent Demailly writes:
 > Thus, your freedom of speach shall stops where it starts hurting
 > people

It hurts me --- really --- to read that.  You should be condemned.

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