Kuo, Jimmy wrote:
>OTOH, people must also realize the difference between rights and privileges.
>
Excellent point:
* Travel within and outside the US is a right of citizens, while
driving a vehicle or riding in a plane is a privilege
* Free expression is a right, while specific expressions (yelling
"Fire!" or accusing someone of a crime) and specific forums (my
printing press, my mailbox) are privileges
It is important for the government to regulate specific forms of
expression and travel. But it is critical that these regulations be
content-neutral, and not be so restrictive as to effectively curtail
travel or free expression.
>And now to bring us back to topic about internet security. Is it a right or
>a privilege to drive on the Information SuperHighway? I tend to view it
>more as a privilege.
>
In general, it is a right: the government should not be able to ban any
person entirely from the Internet.
In specific, it is a privilege: abuse your connectivity (spamming,
fraud, cyber-attack) and you lose your connectivity, and perhaps go to jail.
Hmmm ... yesterday I said I approximately never wanted to give up
freedom for security. <crispin quickly thinks up a rationalization> Aha!
I meant that I didn't want to give up the things above cited as rights
for security, but that managing the privileges is ok. The fine line
between the two is the gap between my fist and Jimmy's nose :)
Crispin
--
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D. http://immunix.com/~crispin/
Chief Scientist, Immunix http://immunix.com
http://www.immunix.com/shop/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Jun 09 2003 - 22:17:01 PDT