There's a fallacy which is quite common on this list, especially among members whose positions are otherwise indefensible. It's surprising in a way because this fallacy is more common among statists. There, the fallacy goes like this: if it is immoral, then it must be illegal. We see this all the time. People think of the government as their way of expressing moral values. Drugs are wrong, so they must be made illegal. Discrimination in employment is wrong, so it also must be illegal. We have countless bad laws based on this false premise. On this list we see the same fallacy, turned around: if it is legal, it must be moral. Someone is attacked for posting some vicious, hateful, immoral rant, and they respond that what they said was legal, because of freedom of speech and the First Amendment. Their critic must be opposed to free speech if he objects to their words. Confusing what is legal and what is moral is a dangerous game. It leads to the false reasoning of the statists. We must remember that there is a clear distinction between morality and legality. We all agree with freedom of speech. People should be able to say whatever they like without fear of legal consequences. Cypherpunk technologies can play a major part in assuring this freedom. But this does not mean that all speech is equally valid. If someone calls for murder and they are attacked for it, it does no good for them to hide behind the First Amendment. Their words are wrong - they will have harmful consequences if followed. They cheapen life, and work against the goals we share of a future based on cooperation rather than cooercion. Cypherpunks are intelligent enough not to be fooled by this attempt to use the principle of free speech to justify calls for violence and murder. It's no wonder, really, that people like May and Vulis attempt to confuse the issue by pretending that their critics are opposed to freedom of speech. They know that if they are judged by their own words, their character is revealed for all to see. Any smokescreen is welcome if it helps conceal their vicious, hateful nature.