At 1:42 PM -0400 8/23/00, Meyer Wolfsheim wrote: > > > http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2586200.html > > >This is great. > >"We don't commit to filtering," said George Kurian, Akamai's vice >president of product management. "The filtering companies need to fix it." > >Good for Akamai. I've always had a lot of respect for them, >technology-wise... but this makes things that much better. > >Disturbing comment later in the article: > >"Censorware technologies are mostly voluntary, but they may soon become >mandatory in some cases." > >If companies like Akamai are compelled by the courts to assist in >filtering and censorship, we're in trouble. > >Asking web caching companies to make their systems filter-friendly is like >like asking book publishers to equip their volumes with rip-cord >incendiary devices. A good parallel, and it shows the First Amendment basis for Akamai and other such caching companies fighting the "mandatory" bit. I doubt any of us yet knows what is meant by this, as it sorts out, but it's yet another battleground. Akamai and Inktomi and other such outfits should simply stonewall any and all demands that they install Carnivores, Childsavers, or any other such mandated filters and taps. There is simply no legal justification for installing taps or filters in the world of words and bits. And I don't mind saying that those who claim otherwise, and act with laws or guns, need killing. If the courts won't uphold the Constitution, the militia must. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
