From: Paul Hughes (paul@planetp.cc)
Date: Mon Sep 04 2000 - 21:43:33 MDT
"E. Shaun Russell" wrote:
> Civil rights are fully uninfringed upon, and justice is untouched.
> Multiple businesses can make multiple billions from using this free market,
> yet very few (if any) civil rights will get quashed. This is the most
> poignant example among others, in my opinion.
You're kidding right? Sure the Internet is definitely leveling hierarchies,
but one only has to look at the DeCSS case, or many of the so-called
cyber-squatter cases to see that it is the larger corporation that more often
than not is coming out on top. In case you haven't been following the most
poignant recent example against civil rights I suggest you get yourself
aquatinted with the DeCSS trial at http://www.2600.com/ Not only has Judge
Kaplan said that code is not protected speech, but that even linking to such
code is also illegal. And your telling me that civil rights are not getting
squashed. My hope is that the internet and the advent of peer-to-peer
networking will level hierarchies beyond anything we've seen yet.
> Paul, before I address these sentences, I would like you to tell me who the
> "little guy" is. What demographic do you have in mind?
Isn't it glaringly obvious? You and me of course. The individual, your
average non-millionare citizen, the non-incorporated being, the average joe,
joe six-pack, mom, dad, your little sister, your friendly neighbor, the barber,
your co-worker, the employee, the clerk, the gas station attendant, and anyone
else without the financial or political power to manipulate or bully the legal
or political process anywhere close to what a multi-billion dollar corporation
is capable of doing. This is especially true where the corporation is the
plaintiff.
Paul Hughes
http://planetp.cc/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:30:46 MST