From: Declan McCullagh <declan@eff.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 10:40:19 -0800 (PST)
To: "Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM" <dlv@bwalk.dm.com>
Subject: Re: Censorship on cypherpunks?, from The Netly News
In-Reply-To: <L8yBXD55w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.961113103859.18273A-100000@eff.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


If Vulis thinks I did an "excellent job," then perhaps I should have 
criticized him more harshly.

-Declan


On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote:

> Declan's done an excellent journalistic job. I understand that because of the
> space limitations he couldn't quote everything that everyone told him, so one
> small point in his article might be misinterpreted by a casual reader:
> 
> Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> writes:
> >    though, he's almost notorious. His .sig file, for instance, proudly
> Why "almost"? :-)
> >    points out that he's a former Kook of the Month; Vulis was also a
> There's no such thing as "former" KOTM, Declan. That's a lifetime achievement!
> >    Net-legend and even has the alt.fan.dimitri-vulis newsgroup named
> >    after him.
> (I newgrouped a.f.d-v myself, actually. But it does get traffic :-)
> >    daily messages that came from Vulis's keyboard. The list is on
> >    Gilmore's machine and he can do what he wants with it; he can moderate
> >    the postings, he can censor material, he can shut the whole thing
> >    down. By kicking off an offending user, a list owner merely exercises
> >    his property right. There's no government involvement, so the First
> >    Amendment doesn't apply.
> 
> I told Declan that agree 100% - John Gilmore has the right to do anything
> he likes with his private mailing list. The 1st Amendment does not apply.
> 
> However censorship needn't be government-imposed.
> 
> >        For his part, Gilmore calls removing the Russian mathematician "an
> >    act of leadership." He says: "It said we've all been putting up with
> 
> An act of censorship, an act of cowardice, an act of Hitler-like leadership...
> 
> >    this guy and it's time to stop. You're not welcome here... It seemed
> >    to me that a lot of the posts on cypherpunks were missing the mark.
> >    They seemed to have an idea that their ability to speak through my
> >    machine was guaranteed by the Constitution."
> 
> If John Gilmore ascribes this opinion to me, then he's lying outright.
> 
> ---
> 
> Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
> Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps
> 


// declan@eff.org // I do not represent the EFF // declan@well.com //