Thank you for the thoughtful comments. On Tue, 11 Apr 2000, Joseph M. Reagle Jr. wrote:
I just read your paper and had a couple quick comments, I used to think that the Internet would be an ultimate promoter of liberal democratic values, however given recent events in asian countries (which you mention) particularly actions of China (which you didn't) I am not at all sure that this will be the case -- of course, one can't prove these things, but I tend to believe that China could actually clamp down on the freedom of speech with respect to the following:
I agree that the next draft should discuss China more. I think China could probably clamp down very effectively. I am not persuaded it could do so without giving up a very large share of the benefits of access.
"Like it or not, we live now in an age of completely free speech..." I think it would be very worthwhile to examine what is meant by "free speech." I don't think free speech means, if I want, I could say what I want and no one
alas, this is beyond the scope of this essay. There's a huge literature on this in the law reviews, though. [...]
So perhaps the Internet shall provide a mechanism for practical free speech (allowing some to speak their minds, and the others that get trapped will get crushed) but it shouldn't be considered a subsitute for political free speech (in which no one gets crushed). In the case of countries like China,
I agree. It's not a substitute. Just an enabler in places that don't choose to practice draconian access control.
the hope is that the practical free speech will enable political free speech, but based on news reports I am seeing this is less likely than I used to think, and as you mention in the section of "Mobility of Personal Data" the capability of this technology to abuse the citizens' and customers' rights are also increasing, but their isn't an open mailing list on which everyone can examine the conversation between the organizations which wish to accomplish this.
A. Michael Froomkin | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax) Associate Professor of Law | U. Miami School of Law | froomkin@law.miami.edu P.O. Box 248087 | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's warm here.