Electronic press ?=? Paper press

Timothy C. May tcmay at netcom.com
Fri Jul 1 09:22:34 PDT 1994


Roy M. Silvernail wrote:

(quoting Duncan Frissell)

> > A BBS is a publication.  The
> > 1st Amendment was specifically written to outlaw the British licensing of 
> > publications.  No risk.
> 
> Until some case law comes about that recognizes this, It Just Ain't So.
> Right now, electronic publishing isn't recognized by the courts as
> publishing (because we don't kill trees, I suppose).

Not so.

Writers who use computers, journalists who write directly to
electronic distribution, etc., are just as protected against
censorship or prior restraint as paper-oriented journalists are.

Any law which required, for example, writers like us to submit their
writings to some government censorship agency would of course be
struck down immediately.

(Note: "Wartime" situations may be different, which is why I fear the
term "War" in "War on Drugs," "War on Money Launderers," and "War on
Barny Bashers.")

--Tim May


-- 
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Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
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