Xref: utzoo soc.motss:19642 talk.rumors:3098 news.admin:6723 news.misc:3546
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!psuvax1!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!husc6!bu-cs!buengc!bph
From: bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton)
Newsgroups: soc.motss,talk.rumors,news.admin,news.misc
Subject: Re: USENET site admin responsibilities (was: Re: Censorship is for Wusses)
Summary: In which an analogy presents itself, and may be illuminating.
Message-ID: <4034@buengc.BU.EDU>
Date: 4 Sep 89 00:08:02 GMT
References: <3659@uwovax.uwo.ca> <13316@nsc.nsc.com> <3988@buengc.BU.EDU> <1989Sep3.043558.9447@xenitec.uucp> <4030@buengc.BU.EDU> <2860@splut.conmicro.com>
Reply-To: bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton)
Followup-To: soc.motss
Organization: Boston Univ. Col. of Eng.
Lines: 23

In article <2860@splut.conmicro.com> jay@splut.conmicro.com (Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard) writes:
>In article <4030@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
>264 lines of argument based on an invalid assumption: that there is such
>a thing as freedom of speech on the net.

Read on and see where you are very, very much mistaken.

>Sorry, Blair, but it doesn't work that way in the real world. Them that
>has the gold makes the rules. There is no more freedom of speech on any
>site than those who own the system allow. If you think that there should
>be freedom of speech on my site, send me $5000, and I'll sell you the
>computer; otherwise, stop trying to tell me how to run it.

I don't tell you how to run it.  You may remove as many users as you
wish simply because you may do so.  The buengc administrators may yank
my account simply by saying, "we own this box," and I am powerless and
have no controverting argument.

However, if they lock me out and say "we disagree with your opinions,"
or "we don't let blacks use Usenet," then they are wrong.

				--Blair
				  "And not just because I'm not black."