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- Subject: Dave Hayes/Freedom Knights: An Alternative View
- Followup-To: news.admin.net-abuse.misc
- Date: 26 Mar 2000 13:30:05 GMT
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- Summary: Another angle on the concept of "True Free Speech"
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- Archive-name: usenet/freedom-knights/alternate-view
- URL: http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/dave-hayes.html
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-
- DAVE HAYES / FREEDOM KNIGHTS:
- AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW
-
- Version 1.1 (9610.03)
- Maintained by J.D. Falk <jdfalk@cybernothing.org>
- Hypertext markup originally by Adam Frey <adam@eden.apana.org.au>
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- 1. Is Dave Hayes for real?
- 2. Are the "Freedom Knights" for real?
- 3. Is "True Free Speech" actually possible?
- 4. What can I do?
-
- 1. IS DAVE HAYES FOR REAL?
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Yes. As far as anybody has been able to tell over the years, he is
- usually completely serious. But, his own NNTP server generally
- isn't open.
-
- In general, Dave Hayes presents himself as an alternative to the
- anti-net-abuse newsadmins in news.admin.net-abuse.* (please see the
- Net Abuse FAQ at
- http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html for more
- information on those newsgroups and their purpose.)
-
- This presentation is not at all incorrect. Dave is striving towards
- a vision of Usenet wherein people can say whatever they want,
- wherever they want, whenever they want, and nobody can say anything
- about it. He calls this concept "True Free Speech."
-
- Most of the other news.admin.net-abuse.* regulars are working on
- keeping the current Usenet from becoming more of a mess than it is
- now. It is in-arguable that this would impinge on a person's right
- to True Free Speech, if that right had been guaranteed to them by
- all the news administrators of Usenet, all over the world.
-
- If you ask most newsadmins, no such right has been guaranteed, or
- even offered, except by Dave Hayes -- who also, in practice, does
- not guarantee such a right (just try to post through
- news.jetcafe.org, which Dave runs, and you'll see what I mean.)
-
- 2. ARE THE "FREEDOM KNIGHTS" FOR REAL?
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Dave has written that the "Freedom Knights" are a group of people
- fighting for free speech in Usenet. They're not the only such
- group; the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy
- and Technology, and the Voters Telecommunications Watch are only a
- few whose goals include freedom of expression on the entire
- Internet and Usenet.
-
- While all of the people who call themselves "Freedom Knights" give
- lip service to free speech, some of the most prolific of them seem
- to be more interested in gaining power for themselves. They have
- been known to post things like "newsadmins are not necessary to the
- people's usenet," which is patently ludicrous because news servers
- do not run themselves, or ad-hominem attacks against people who do
- not take them seriously, such as accusing UUnet newsadmin David
- Lawrence of raping children.
-
- These so-called Freedom Knights have done more to hurt the
- credibility of Dave Hayes and his goals than anything else ever
- could.
-
- 3. IS "TRUE FREE SPEECH" ACTUALLY POSSIBLE?
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- It would certainly be nice to think so. Imagine a Usenet Utopia,
- where people politely discuss things of mutual interest, without
- anybody to tell them what to do or where to do it.
-
- But what happens if somebody starts to be purposefully destructive,
- starting long drawn-out arguments and feeding the fires whenever
- they see an opportunity? This happens all the time on the current
- Usenet -- what would cause people to act differently in a Hayesian,
- True Free Speech Usenet?
-
- How about inconsiderate advertisers, hawking their wares daily in
- every newsgroup? Dave suggests killfiles, which would allow your
- newsreader to simply not show you specific types of messages. But
- nobody, not even Dave, has yet been able to come up with a method
- which will automatically killfile new problem messages.
-
- Hayesian "True Free Speech" is a noble goal. I, for one, honestly
- wish it were possible -- and I'm not alone. But, as with many
- Utopian dreams, the propensity for conflict which seems built into
- the Human psyche would ruin such an endeavor before it could even
- get started.
-
- 4. WHAT CAN I DO?
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Be polite to each other -- remember that there's a human being on
- the other end of your conversation. Make sure that anything you
- write is appropriate for the place you're posting it; becoming
- familiar with Charters, FAQs, and related documents is a good
- start.
-
- Most of the people who post inappropriately do so because they are
- new to Usenet, and don't know any better. Be constructive in your
- criticism. Give them advice, not flames.
-
- Strive towards a Usenet of cooperation and understanding. Only then
- can True Free Speech be realized.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-
- This document is Copyright (c) 1996 by J.D. Falk, all rights
- reserved. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced
- electronically on any system connected to the various networks which
- make up the Internet, USENET, and FidoNet so long as it is
- reproduced in its entirety, unedited, and with this copyright notice
- intact.
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