Hi, Boyce! (was Fwd: tor-talk subscription update)

[Shawn K. Quinn]

On Thu, 2016-06-23 at 22:38 +1000, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> I don't know Alex, but I do know this: I have an expectation (recently
> dashed to smithereens) that a project such as Tor Inc, promoting
> "freedom of speech, whistleblowing and more", should facilitate at least
> ONE public communication forum (email list) which list has a strong
> guarantee of freedom of speech, even though most or all other lists may
> be considered semi or fully private club lists (only excepting the
> laws which bind that corporation in its jurisdiction - a corporation
> obviously cannot fail to censor illegal "speech" in its home
> jurisdiction).

I am all for freedom of speech, but a list started for a specific
purpose becomes useless if most, or even many, of the posts are
off-topic. The tor-talk list (which I do not subscribe to) was started
for a specific purpose, and allowing the continued posting of off-topic
garbage defeats the whole purpose of having such a list.

I don't work for the US military or US government, but I support the TOr
Project's and Graham Boyce's efforts to restore order to the list in
principle. Those who have threatened to rejoin the list under other
identities have committed a despicable and reprehensible act and deserve
the ban from the forum they have received. 

I will admit that sometimes our governments in the US sometimes get it
wrong when passing laws. We as a nation have learned from our mistakes
and the history of the laws reflect this. To infiltrate an e-mail list
originated from private computer systems with off-topic posts, and then
to threaten to continue doing so despite being banned from that list is
against the law in most states and I believe violates Federal law as
well. It is the right of the Tor Project and the people behind it to
refuse to re-publish off-topic messages. To that effect, I support the
Tor Project taking legal action against any such offenders if that
becomes necessary.

Before anyone even asks, my beliefs are the same regardless of whether
or not Jacob Applebaum is guilty of what he has been accused of. (I do
consider it noteworthy that so far such accusations have only been made
in the court of public opinion, not in any court of law.)

-- 
Shawn K. Quinn <skquinn at rushpost.com>