From: tallpaul@pipeline.com (tallpaul)
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 23:18:47 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Cypherpunks Decency Act
Message-ID: <199602161441.JAA14966@pipe12.nyc.pipeline.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Feb 15, 1996 21:43:49, 'jdoe-agamemnon@alpha.c2.org' wrote: 
 
 
>Bill Frantz wrote: 
>>Perry sent me a polite note asking why I had posted the original post,
and 
>>He suggested that in the future I make it clear why I think my posts are 
>>relevent to the subject of the list. 
> 
>Is this what we call the chilling effect? 
> 
 
No, certainly not in the *meaning* of the term. 
 
One: P.E. Metzger is an individual, not a state. To put it in context, "how
many [Army] divisions does Perry have?" 
 
Two: People publish a variety of opinions to the cypherpunk list. These
have included murder for hire and the mass destruction of civilians via
nuclear weapons. Surely P.E. Metzger is entitled to post his opinions, far
more topical to CP-List than the others. 
 
Three: The mathemetician Heri Poncaire once wrote that a properly prepared
scientific proof had the effect of "compelling" belief whether the person
vewing the proof wanted to believe in it or not. Put another way, any proof
in the HP sense has a chilling effect on all belief structures opposed to
the proof. This "chilling effect" is not what is meant by the same words
used to refer to government action. It is, perhaps, a type of "chilling
effect" that scientifically-oriented people would support. Now obviously,
P.E. Metzger's post and request is not a scientific proof. It might lead
some individuals to refrain from posting clearly off-topic material. The
same individuals may get upset at this new-found consciousness and be upset
at it. They might even decide their original unmediated desires had been
"chilled" by P.E. Metzger's request. So what? 
 
--tallpaul