I don't wish to get this one going on c-punks, but you will see shortly just how quickly the "feudal" national powers are going to be able to erect national firewalls. We are entirely dependent on AT&T, Sprint, MCI, British Telcom, and so on for nation to nation or region to region communications --and they in turn are entriely dependent on the various national governments for the _franchise_ to "enter" or operate within the country. telephone lines are a trickle of information --the old uucp when I complained when the daily _total_ traffic exceed 2 megabyte and the heydey of TrailBlazers. today it's 154 Mb/sec trunks, and they are bogging down. the governments regulate these lines and outside the U.S. most governments own these lines. satellites are another perfect example; the governments control the franchises for the up and down links and the allocation of frequencies. and, who controls the satellite launches? Even the European consortium is controlled --forget the Chinese and the Russians! Is the government doing something illegal vis a vis communications policy (other than the obliteration of free speech with CDA)? No, but it is obvious they will, since the CDA or whatever is their intent and they have the power to enforce their intent --if nothing else by invoking FEMA, which a cornered Clinton might do. the extremists are almost always ignored. we are certainly viewed as extremists. nobody took the Libertarian party seriously until Howard Stern ran for governor of NY --and that was the circus of Will Rogers, not a political platform. Years of cooperative political graft (the interest in the status quo) has made the two party system the only __succeedable__ political system in the U.S. eventually, only violent revolution of the masses succeeds --men of rational thoughts and wise counsel are easily suppressed, if not eliminated. As for the dreamers who believe the government is or will NOT do (be doing) something illegal, the line forms to the right for reeducation. __________________________________________________________________________ go not unto usenet for advice, for the inhabitants thereof will say: yes, and no, and maybe, and I don't know, and fuck-off. _________________________________________________________________ attila__ To be a ruler of men, you need at least 12 inches.... There is no safety this side of the grave. Never was; never will be.