At 7:03 PM 9/13/96, E. Allen Smith wrote:

From: IN%"tcmay@got.net" 13-SEP-1996 04:33:21.66

...

By the way, today's remailers appear to be primarily _experiments_ or _casual services_, not altruistic services for some nebulous idea of "free speech." (Besides, if it's illegal for "spammers" to use remailers, so much for "free speech.")

Umm.... freedom of the press is freedom for he who owns the press. The remailer operators own the presses; why shouldn't they use whatever means they see fit to determine how they can be used? I encourage people not to discriminate on the basis of the political orientation of what's going through... but spam isn't political speech. (I agree that the government should not be in the business of determining what is spam and what is political speech - all speech should be protected - but remailer operators are not governments.)

There are many nuanced definitions of "free speech." I was replying to someone who used in connection with his belief that remailers primarily exist as a service to enable "free speech." Hence my comment. I'm fully aware of the rights of remailers to limit what they pass on. I just don't think it wise, nor do I think it fits with pious calls for "free speech." --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."