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From: dpassage@soda.berkeley.edu (David G. Paschich)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: CPSR vs. EFF
Message-ID: <DPASSAGE.91Jun26131123@soda.berkeley.edu>
Date: 26 Jun 91 21:11:23 GMT
References: <9269@hsv3.UUCP> <1991Jun26.055354.358@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Sender: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu (USENET Administrator)
Organization: UC Berkeley's Open Computing Facility
Lines: 41
In-Reply-To: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu's message of 26 Jun 91 05: 53:54 GMT

In article <1991Jun26.055354.358@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
   In article <9269@hsv3.UUCP> mvp@hsv3.lsil.com (Mike Van Pelt) writes:
   >
   >     "The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
   >     have taken out an advertisement in the West Coast edition
   >     of the New York Times protesting the use of computer
   >     technology in the war with Iraq."
   >
   >This does tend to support my off-the-cuff characterization of CPSR.  I
   >suspect a fair percentage of those who support what EFF is doing find
   >this sort of thing utterly cretinous. 

   I agree, it's silly. Here's *why* it's silly: computer professionals
   do not have any special expertise at determining whether or not their
   country should go to war. They have exactly as much right to speak out
   as any other citizen; but the implicit claim of special expertise is
   what's ridiculous there (regardless of whether you think the war was
   justified).

Here's why I think it's ridiculous:  (Disclaimer:  I'm working off of the 
excerpt in Mike Van Pelt's post, not the actual ad.)

It assumes that computer technology is somehow "better" or "more
worthy" than other technology, and thus should be protected from
"unworthy" uses like war.

I look at it this way:  Computers are a tool.  If you don't like what
that tool is being used for, then attack the person using the tool for
what they're doing, not for using that tool to do it.  I don't think
CPSR or any other group should tell people what they can or can't do
with technology.

If CPSR wanted to take a position on the gulf war, it should have been
along the lines of "CPSR does not support the war for these political
and economic reasons," not "CPSR opposes the war because they're using
our favorite machines in it."

--
David G. Paschich	Open Computing Facility		UC Berkeley
dpassage@ocf.berkeley.edu
Go Colorado Rockies -- Opening Day, Mile High Stadium, April 1993