From: "George A. Stathis" <hyperlex@hol.gr>
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 16:25:33 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Giving Kill Files a Workout...
Message-ID: <199611170424.CAA09647@prometheus.hol.gr>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 06:52 ìì 16/11/1996 EST, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote:
>> Thank you in advance for your filtering instructions (yawn).
>>
>> BTW, why would anyone give a shit whether you killfiled anyone or not?
>
>But, Dale, that's the whole point of censorship: people like Alan Olsen
>and John Gilmore and Jim Ray aren't satisfied when they've killfiles a
>source of noise they consider annoying so it doesn't bother them anymore.
>They feel compelled to silence it altogether. They claim altruistically
>that they don't want the noise to bother anyone else, such as the clueless
>newbies who keep subscribing to this mailing list and don't know how to
>use mail filters. (Sandy Sanford's concern for them was soooo touching...)


Rather infuriating, too, that newbies are PATRONISED. It's well known
among my own circle that forcible expulsions from mailing lists serve
the purpose of controlling the information-flow to _newbies_ mostly;
since hard-liners and experts know how to killfile anyone anyway...

But sometimes, in other mailing lists, "killfile-terrorism" appears,
meaning an attempt to influence EVERY newbie into killfiling someone
whose messages are no longer read, but the messages of his critics
are read.

It's a return to the MIDDLE AGES, because it means that the words of
the prosecutor are heard, but the defense of the accused is deleted.

Greek friends and I have been studying this Mechanism of Repression
for rather a long time. It's probably encouraged by the EFF, too, in
the sense that (the goal is): Turn the Internet into cows and sheep
flocked together by pimp-cowboy list-owners.

It nearly turned me into a Yankee-hater till I realized there are
quite a few open-minded Americans similarly infuriated and concerned.

One Net-friend of mine (an American lady) has a doctorate in History
and Law and remarked that FEW PEOPLE IN THE STATES REALIZE WHAT THIS
IS ALL ABOUT, and how EASY it is for the freedom-bashers to succeed.

Lastly, I have now read nearly ALL of Dimitri Vulis' postings (in
the F-K list), and consider it CRIMINAL censorship if anyone tries
to stop him from speaking out. His talent at exposing fallacies is
magnificient.

This is the beginning of the END of pimping-on-the-net in the
name of "privacy".

George