From: rishab@dxm.ernet.in
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 94 05:14:54 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Cyberspace is by nature crime-free
Message-ID: <gate.ZB7iNc1w165w@dxm.ernet.in>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


"Bradley W. Dolan" <71431.2564@CompuServe.COM>:
> [Seabrook's rant against flaming]
> project, told me, "You won't have a Waco in Texas, you'll have 
> a Waco in cyberspace.  You could have a cult, speaking to each
> other through encryption, that suddenly erupts in society -
> well programmed, well organized - and then suddenly disappears
> again."  Therefore, in an effort to balance the good and bad

Excuse me? Will the cyberspace Waco abuse children with paddles in basement
'punishment rooms' - maybe by posting their names to alt.basement.punishment?
Will the cyberspace Waco be able to _physically_ intimidate people into acting
against their will?

The major difference between cyberspace and the world of brick houses is that
no _physical_ crime is possible - no matter what anti-porn kooks say, you 
_can't_ rape with words; or murder, or torture or kidnap. Even the pedophiles
(98.3356% of the Net's population, apparently) cannot go beyond _communication_
on the Net... Even if one agrees with the debatable criminality of consensual
sex with minors, the act itself has to be _physical_! The crime cannot be in
discussing it. What's the FBI going to do? Jail people for _talking_ about
murder, or jail _murderers_?

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Rishab Aiyer Ghosh                                    They came for the Jews,
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