Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site burl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!rcj From: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson) Newsgroups: net.religion,net.legal,net.misc Subject: Re: Autodialing Falwell - a different perspective Message-ID: <965@burl.UUCP> Date: Sun, 19-Jan-86 15:03:59 EST Article-I.D.: burl.965 Posted: Sun Jan 19 15:03:59 1986 Date-Received: Mon, 20-Jan-86 06:05:01 EST References: <1225@mtuxo.UUCP> <11434@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <487@looking.UUCP> Reply-To: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson) Organization: AT&T Technologies, Burlington NC Lines: 52 Xref: watmath net.religion:8918 net.legal:2742 net.misc:9151 Summary: BTW, the legal points in here are few and far between; how about we move this discussion to net.religion and give the net.legal readers a break! In article <487@looking.UUCP> brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes: >Just because you *can* listen in on a cordless phone call doesn't make it >a good thing to do. Just because you can call Jerry toll-free at >his expense doesn't make it a good thing to do. Agreed, but the question was [originally, before I opened my big keyboard,] a legal one, not a moral one. It is not moral (in my book) to listen in on a cordless phone call, but it also legal to do so and the fact that I can and might listen in does not *legally* infringe upon the cordless phone user's freedom of speech. >The fact that I don't have a fence is not an invitation to walk on my land. No, but the fact that there are laws against trespassing is a good reason *not* to walk on your land. If you are contemplating selling your land (adjacent to my land) for a toxic waste dump site, that is an invitation for me to practice some civil disobedience and walk/sit/lie on your land anyway, with the full knowledge aforehand that I may/will be arrested for it. >Those who fight from the "do whatever you can get away with" stance >will only encourage stricter laws and more expensive technical solutions >to problems involving violations of people's rights. Think of the world >you are building. Neither the man who autodialed Falwell or I advocate "do whatever you can get away with". Although I think that Abbie Hoffman had some neat ideas, I do not agree with the philosophy espoused in "Steal This Book". But when something means enough to you, you should stand up and fight for it. >Apply the golden rule. If you had an 800 number for abortion information, >would you want Mr. Falwell's supporters calling it with their autodialers? If Mr. Falwell's 800 number was for informational purposes only, I don't think this would have happened. It is designed specifically to gather money for his machine, a machine which sends him and his messages all over the world to make astounding political statements that have great impact on the masses. Therefore, I think that we have a legal right to tax his church -- just as we tax corporations whose chairpersons run around the world doing the same thing on company funds. So far we have been lucky -- we haven't had a bad evangelist smart enough not to go overboard on a massive ego trip. With a few very strange exceptions (Jesse Helms), no one *wants* Falwell's support anymore -- it is a kiss of death because he has made such a fool of himself. help us if we ever get a smart weasel evangelist... -- The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3313 (Cornet 291) alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!rcj ...![ ihnp4 cbosgd akgua masscomp ]!clyde!rcj