Arun and Marin have been quoting from UN docs and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR), http://www.pluggedin.org/amnesty/rights4.htm which the US *ratified* not so long ago.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice. 3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary: (a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; (b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
Lots of UN declarations of rights have this sort of exception; "protection of public morals" is something so blatantly vague and broad that if a government contends that such a concept exists, as the covenant does, it could probably force the World Court to conclude that it permits them to declare as "necessary" just about anything short of burning witches and heretics, and humanely beheading heretics, drug dealers, and anonymous remailer operators is probably ok by this standard. The UN Declaration (or was it Convention) on the Rights of the Child is even worse - it strongly states the right to believe in and practice religion, except when the government needs to interfere to protect public morals or public order... On the other hand, it provides no such exception for the right to mandatory public education or identity registration. # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> Defuse Authority!