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Re: [ga-full] RE: [ga] Proposal: WWW / slashdot
[cc's trimmed]
The United States has a long and honorable tradition of anonymous and
pseudonymous participation in public life. It is a right that our courts
have said is guaranteed by the constitution against governmental attempts
to require identification. (Of course that is only applicable by analogy
to our list.) Many of the major essays leading up to the American
Revolution, and in the period after independence and before the adoption
of the Constitution were published pseudonymously - including the
Federalist Papers, which are part of our legal bedrock today.
I would be curious to know what the legal rule is in France - can the
government compel that political essays be signed with the name of the
author?
I personally reject the suggestion that anonymity and/or pseudonymity are
either bad or a sign of something evil to hide. Indeed, they seem to me
to offer the only answer, however poor, to legitimate fears some people
have expressed (mostly off list) that controversial postings might lead to
direct retaliation against them personally.
For more on anonymity and pseudonymity see
http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/ocean.htm
I would support allowing anonymous posting to the list. Even some sort of
"identity escrow" to prevent multiple identities (which don't bother me,
but I know would bother others) would be preferable to a blanket
prohibition.
On Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Jean-Michel Becar wrote:
> Mr Baptista,
>
> As I'm a honest citizen I don't care to provide or to share any of my
> private information with any body. Why are you so reluctant? I always
> thought that only people having something to hide would hide their identity.
> But I do not think it's your case, so what's the problem?
>
> Jean-Michel Becar
> ETSI Project Manager
> www.etsi.org
> Tel: +33 4 92 94 43 15
> Fax: +33 4 92 38 52 15
> GSM: +33 6 82 80 19 31
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: !Dr. Joe Baptista [mailto:baptista@pccf.net]
> Sent: Monday, February 28, 2000 11:22 AM
> To: Jean-Michel Becar
> Cc: 'Harald Tveit Alvestrand'; ga@dnso.org; list@ifwp.org
> Subject: RE: [ga] Proposal: WWW / slashdot
>
>
> not in the icann cards - nor do I expect icann for reasons of privacy to
> share any information with the ga nitwits.
>
> On Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Jean-Michel Becar wrote:
>
> > Harald,
> >
> > Yes of course, I wrote this Email earlier in the morning and I only though
> > afterwards I was writing something not enough open for our process. BTW I
> > like your idea to use the At Large membership system to subscribe to the
> ga.
> > Dear ga members could we go for a discussion on that.
> >
> > Jean-Michel Becar
> > E.T.S.I.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Harald Tveit Alvestrand [mailto:Harald@Alvestrand.no]
> > Sent: Monday, February 28, 2000 8:26 AM
> > To: Jean-Michel Becar; Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law;
> > ga@dnso.org
> > Subject: RE: [ga] Proposal: WWW / slashdot
> >
> >
> > At 05:44 28.02.00 +0000, Jean-Michel Becar wrote:
> > >Harald, Michael,
> > >
> > >But the way the At Large members is registered via this Web Interface
> could
> > >be an example for the GA membership.
> > >But the way the proof of identity is done (by sending a postal mail to
> the
> > >pysical address with a PIN code to be used for accessing to the web site)
> > >would cost too much for the GA.
> > >So why not to set up a web site where people can registrer themselves and
> > >for the proof of identity and interest in the GA DNSO, they should
> provide
> > a
> > >domain name that can be verified with a whois request if the domain name
> > >holder is the same as the member.
> >
> > and if they don't hold any domain names?
> > For those that do, it's possible - but we'll have to do something for the
> > rest. (And, of course, domain names can cost down to USD 10 these days)
> >
> > another idea I had - what if we considered an activated At Large
> membership
> > necessary and sufficient for voting rights in the GA?
> > This would have a couple of advantages:
> >
> > - ICANN has to do the verification work anyway, so it's only done once
> > - More active use of the ICANN membership code gives more chance that
> > weaknesses in the system will be found and corrected
> > - It's a drive (a small one) for At Large membership
> >
> > Of course, this leaves us without the power to impose or enforce our own
> > membership rules, requires people to be willing to sign up for At Large
> > membership, and requires that the people running the At Large are willing
> > to share at least some information.
> >
> > But it's an idea.
> >
> > Harald
> >
> >
> > --
> > Harald Tveit Alvestrand, EDB Maxware, Norway
> > Harald.Alvestrand@edb.maxware.no
> >
> > --
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--
A. Michael Froomkin | Professor of Law | froomkin@law.tm
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