Wednesday, October 13, 2004
There is a lot of chatter going on related to the indymedia servers that were confiscated (and later returned). I have not been sure what to post, as this seems to be more of a police matter than a privacy issue. I have been thinking on this, and I have found what it is that I want to say...
As I understand it, the servers were used to contain and collect information about the Republican National Convention (RNC) that should have been held private (information about who the delegates are, where the delegates stayed, etc...). I also understand that there was encouragement and magnification of a call to cause problems for the delegates and interfere with the order of the day.
The people close to the servers are using this as an opportunity to speak against anti-piracy legislation such as the 4077 or Induce. I am firmly convinced that is not the case. I believe that the servers were confiscated quickly to help determine who was behind the attempted RNC convention obfuscation.
I happen to concur with that action, if that was what happened.
I am for free speech. The Constitution of the United States (and I am sure there are other documents, I just am not aware of their names at this point in my life) guarantees the right.
This right is balanced, however.
I do not think any reasonable person would think it okay for another to yell; "Fire!" in a crowded theater, any more than a reasonable person would think it okay for someone to lie about another in order to gain victory by the other's defeat (although politics seems to allow for this, I do not think "we", the individuals, care for those tactics or consider the tactics fair).
The individual is paramount! (3) Individual rights should be protected by the whole.
That includes Delegates...
To the people who "yelled fire" as it were...
I understand you may be frustrated by events as you see them, but beware of going "the wrong way" in order to put something towards what you see is "the right way". This goes down to the old adage, two wrongs do not make a right. Some may prefer a utilitarian approach where ends justify means, but it truly depends on what those "means" happen to be.
The Constitution of the United States of America was built on principles and forces which are outside of the document. These principles and forces formed the document itself to protect certain unalienable rights. The Magna Charta (which predates the constitution) names these rights as life, liberty, and property. (1)
The power of the whole is derived from the "ones" of the many (that is, the whole inherits the individual thoughts, expressions, wants, ideas, dreams, and passions of the individuals) (2). And, this power is multiplied through principles of synergy.
Let us multiply the good.
---
1) The Constitution names the third right as pursuit of happiness (which is derived from life, liberty, and property)
2) Thanks to my buddy Joe for this one. Joe taught me that the organization inherits the attributes of its members (and in turn, the members inherit the attributes of the organization).
3) The Ultimate Precept: Man as the Individual (General Systems Theory principle)
We may, however, conceive of a scientific understanding of human society and its laws in a somewhat different and more modest way. Such knowledge can teach us not only what human behavior and society have in common with other organizations, but also what is their uniqueness. Here the main tenet will be: Man is not only a political animal; he is, before and above all, an individual. The real values of humanity are not those which it shares with biological entities, the function of an organism or a community of animals, but those which stem from the individual mind. Human society is not a community of ants or termites, governed by inherited instinct and controlled by the laws of the superordinate whole; it is based upon the achievements of the individual and is doomed if the individual is made a cog in the social machine. This, I believe, is the ultimate precept a theory of organization can give: not a manual for dictators of any denomination more efficiently to subjugate human beings by the scientific application of Iron Laws, but a warning that the Leviathan of organization must not swallow the individual without sealing its own inevitable doom.
Reprinted without permission based on my understanding of fair use (see also copyright.gov) which fancy enough is Also a free speech issue...
s:>
sil
As I understand it, the servers were used to contain and collect information about the Republican National Convention (RNC) that should have been held private (information about who the delegates are, where the delegates stayed, etc...). I also understand that there was encouragement and magnification of a call to cause problems for the delegates and interfere with the order of the day.
The people close to the servers are using this as an opportunity to speak against anti-piracy legislation such as the 4077 or Induce. I am firmly convinced that is not the case. I believe that the servers were confiscated quickly to help determine who was behind the attempted RNC convention obfuscation.
I happen to concur with that action, if that was what happened.
I am for free speech. The Constitution of the United States (and I am sure there are other documents, I just am not aware of their names at this point in my life) guarantees the right.
This right is balanced, however.
I do not think any reasonable person would think it okay for another to yell; "Fire!" in a crowded theater, any more than a reasonable person would think it okay for someone to lie about another in order to gain victory by the other's defeat (although politics seems to allow for this, I do not think "we", the individuals, care for those tactics or consider the tactics fair).
The individual is paramount! (3) Individual rights should be protected by the whole.
That includes Delegates...
To the people who "yelled fire" as it were...
I understand you may be frustrated by events as you see them, but beware of going "the wrong way" in order to put something towards what you see is "the right way". This goes down to the old adage, two wrongs do not make a right. Some may prefer a utilitarian approach where ends justify means, but it truly depends on what those "means" happen to be.
The Constitution of the United States of America was built on principles and forces which are outside of the document. These principles and forces formed the document itself to protect certain unalienable rights. The Magna Charta (which predates the constitution) names these rights as life, liberty, and property. (1)
The power of the whole is derived from the "ones" of the many (that is, the whole inherits the individual thoughts, expressions, wants, ideas, dreams, and passions of the individuals) (2). And, this power is multiplied through principles of synergy.
Let us multiply the good.
---
1) The Constitution names the third right as pursuit of happiness (which is derived from life, liberty, and property)
2) Thanks to my buddy Joe for this one. Joe taught me that the organization inherits the attributes of its members (and in turn, the members inherit the attributes of the organization).
3) The Ultimate Precept: Man as the Individual (General Systems Theory principle)
We may, however, conceive of a scientific understanding of human society and its laws in a somewhat different and more modest way. Such knowledge can teach us not only what human behavior and society have in common with other organizations, but also what is their uniqueness. Here the main tenet will be: Man is not only a political animal; he is, before and above all, an individual. The real values of humanity are not those which it shares with biological entities, the function of an organism or a community of animals, but those which stem from the individual mind. Human society is not a community of ants or termites, governed by inherited instinct and controlled by the laws of the superordinate whole; it is based upon the achievements of the individual and is doomed if the individual is made a cog in the social machine. This, I believe, is the ultimate precept a theory of organization can give: not a manual for dictators of any denomination more efficiently to subjugate human beings by the scientific application of Iron Laws, but a warning that the Leviathan of organization must not swallow the individual without sealing its own inevitable doom.
Reprinted without permission based on my understanding of fair use (see also copyright.gov) which fancy enough is Also a free speech issue...
s:>
sil
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