Re: [Bug-gne]the problem of illegal content vs. freedom

[Jean-Daniel Fekete]

Mike,

I think my point is not clear enough.  I am not talking about the legal
responsibility, I am talking about my personal guilt.
I am not afraid to go to jail if I publish ideas I believe in, I am afraid
to harm someone and not being able to react.
When Diderot and D'Alembert published the first encyclopedia, Diderot had
to hide and the printing was done abroad because it has been forbiden.
However, Diderot assumed this responsibility (not D'Alembert who couldn't
stand it).

If GNE is setup to allow any contents and provide no way to remove harmful
contents, it is out of control.
I think we need to define some control.  Usenet has a simple voting
mechanism to create new groups.  Anybody can vote and if there is more
"yes" than "no", it passes.  Doing something as simple as that would add
some control without (too much) bias because everybody can vote, not only
Americans or Christians.

Mike Warren wrote:

> "Hook" <address@hidden> writes:
>
> > I get the distinct impression that the only responsibility that some
> > members of this list are interested in is "freedom to publish", and
> > that for them there is nothing else which even comes close in
> > importance. Regardless of whether or not I think of this as wrong,
> > it's dangerous, and borders on the fanatical, to have such a narrow
> > view. I don't believe that something as potentially beneficial as
> > GNE can afford to completely ignore the potential for damage that
> > completely open publishing can have.
>
> I presume that most people will access GNE through a classifier more
> restrictive than the ``everything'' one; most classifications will
> probably not include such things as have been brought up as example of
> ``damaging'' essays.
>
> I really don't think the scenarios envisioned will be a problem, and
> we shouldn't have a restrictive editorial policy to combat some
> imagined threat.
>
> > > Probably the person who did the hurting will, since they are at
> > > fault.  Thousands of people read all about bombs and never
> > > actually make one...
>
> > Quite right. However that's not always relevant.
>
> What's not always relevant? That the people who actually do the
> harming should be responsible?
>
> --
> address@hidden
> <URL:http://www.mike-warren.com>
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>
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--
  Jean-Daniel Fekete
  Ecole des Mines de Nantes, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, La Chantrerie,
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