I think the attributions on this are screwy, but it's that way in what I'm quoting, so: On Wednesday, November 21, 2001, at 06:16 PM, Declan McCullagh wrote:
Clearly "gep2" does not understand principles of free expression and limited government. A shame.
On Wed, Nov 21, 2001 at 02:22:54PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
The part of the article where the government official says such books "should be illegal" is especially telling.
But one of the few positive things about the post-Sep. 11 response is that we haven't seen much in the way of serious proposals for prior restraint on publications that would be allowed before that date.
The question is how many of these proposals were already "on the table", or at least in the same room as the table before? There have always been those who believed it was possible to restrict access to information "for our own good". They have always been wrong.
That is, naturally, damning with faint praise, and there have been some moves to limit availability of info (http://www.politechbot.com/p-02820.html), but it could have been far worse.
-Declan
-- "Remember, half-measures can be very effective if all you deal with are half-wits."--Chris Klein