Also see Justicefiles.org's motion asking the judge to reconsider (I understand a ruling is expected this week): http://www.politechbot.com/kirkland/defense.motion.0601.html -Declan --- http://sfbg.com/nessie/43.html Free speech victory Journalist Declan McCullagh uses the Internet to stand up to censorship By nessie Regular readers of this column have become accustomed by now to my ceaseless jeremiads against the menace of malevolent technology, the ceaseless depredations of the corporate-government complex, and unending cover-ups that conceal them. Frankly, it gets kind of depressing sometimes. So it gives me great pleasure to be able today to relay a bit of good news for a change. Cheer up, people. Sometimes we win one. Eventually we will win enough of them that the tide will turn. In the meantime, alas, we must be content with small victories. The good news is that we just had one. In part it resulted from the nature of Internet technology. In part it resulted from the personal heroism of Wired News Washington, D.C. bureau chief Declan McCullagh. The heroes of journalism are all too often are recognized only posthumously. Don Bolles, Danny Casolaro, Alan Berg, et al, made their names immortal the hard way. But Declan McCullagh did something just as brave and, as it turned out, a whole lot smarter. We all owe him a debt of thanks for what he did. You, gentle reader, should write this man a personal thank you note, and Wired News should give him a well-deserved raise. He could have gone to jail for what he did to defend our right to the whole truth. [...] The city of Kirkland has apparently given up trying to censor Declan McCullagh because the Internet is impossible for the government to censor. It would if it could, but it can't so it won't, and that's the sum of the story. [...] McCullagh's archived post has since been mirrored at a number of sites, several outside the United States and thus beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Putting him in jail for contempt would be like locking the barn door after horse is gone. It also would be a great deal more trouble than it would be worth, because it would arouse righteous anger among freedom lovers everywhere, particularly in the United States. There is no denying that we Americans have our faults, but sitting quietly by while a journalist suffers for trying to tell us the truth is definitely not one of them. We would have raised bloody hell. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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