Helena Kobrin in Freedom Magazine

YES, ladies and gentlemen, our Lawyer Friend contributed a short commentary to Freedom Magazine; six paragraphs about responsibility and the rule of law on the net.

She starts off well, calling the Internet "a priceless resource for improving understanding between peoples." Then she rattles on about crime, abuse and even terrorism on the net, although the only wrongs she specifically mentions are defamation and (of course) copyright violations.

Defamation: of the Church? C'mon now. For the most part, the Bad News about the Co$ is well documented, even using LRH's writings as a primary source, er, Source.

Copyright violations: most of us are careful to stay within the parameters of the Fair Use doctrine. Most of us intend to keep it that way.

In turn, Ms. Kobrin sets up a strawman: censorship. But it's not censorship that got us all riled up. The Co$ shoved the Internet community. The Internet community is shoving back.

The centerpiece of Ms. Kobrin's commentary is the following statement: "Calling for application of the laws and exercise of self-restraint is a substantial contribution to preservation of the right to free expression."

Given Ms. Cobrin's remarkable career on Usenet, this statement has a somewhat hollow ring, imo.

-- Chris Lyman | "The faster you run upstairs, the more likely play: 8226@tccn.com | you are to forget why you went in the first work: chris.lyman@stpaul.gov | place." -- Suzy Becker, _All I Need To Know substandard disclaimer | I Learned From My Cat_