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More seriously, we discovered that over half of all these leaders have gotten in bed with the Black Hole cyber-terrorists, the same people who...a few years ago...convinced MCI to threaten our ISP and its 25,000 innocent customers to be disconnected from the backbone of the Net if they did not "discipline" us. We were allowed to raise no defense, even though we have never spammed anyone in any way other than what we did last week. That means that all communication to or from our domain...dreamagic.com...is permanently blocked by all ISP's who subscribe to this nonsense. The irony of these LP leaders openly publishing their email addresses on the Web...presumedly soliciting political commentary...and then blocking...before the fact of ever having read a single word we've written...any and all such comments not only from us, but also from any other domains that have made the Black Hole blacklist...is breathtaking! Understand that "punishing" innocent people...as one does when one blocks all email from a DOMAIN rather than an individual...is almost the textbook definition of terrorism and is certainly censorship. This behavior, long practiced in the armed forces and prisons, is known as "group punishment" and has been forbidden even in these venues for decades.
By the way, calling the Black Hole vigilantes "silly and nonsensical," as well as terrorists, is a well thought out position. They claim that, since ISP's are "private" concerns, they have the right to block any and all communication for any reason whatsoever. That these crypto-fascists haven't seriously considered the danger of this doctrine is evident if you consider but a single thought. Suppose AOL, MSN, CompuServe, MCI and ATT...private concerns all....decided to block communication to and from any domain containing the letters "LP"? Or, in the case of the ISP terrorists themselves, what if those same large firms decide to block THEIR domains? Right now this is no serious threat. Like Saudi Arabia and Iraq, these giant and wealthy ISP's find it convenient to get in bed with these terrorists for their own purposes. However, like the former, they may wake up in the morning with a serious headache.
In fairness, it should be noted that many LP leaders who actually read what we wrote agreed with it and asked to be put on our distribution lists. But, those that did not, called us all sorts of foul names, generally hiding behind the notion that we had "violated their space" by actually responding to their published email address. We were called "rude," "arrogant," "criminal," "hateful," "uninformed," "stupid" and a whole lot of much less polite epithets. One person even threatened to call the FBI! While we found much of this quite amusing, since each of these terms seems to have been a synonym for "criticism," we also found it to be a bit depressing. Our purpose is not to nix the LP, but to fix it.
Of course, the crux of the matter is that we IMPLIED that we were spamming them. Seizing on that declaration, some responded, without thinking, that we were sending them "unwanted" email, even though they had invited us to do so. However, had we not informed them of the mass nature of the mailing...that it was being sent to all LP leaders...they would have had no way to distinguish our letter from any other that was sent from the "mailto"s on their Web sites. That they did not "volunteer" to hear from us, or that we "responded" to a whole lot of them rather than to each one "separately and personally," does NOT make it uninvited. For if a published email address on a political site is NOT an invitation to submit political commentary...in WHATEVER format...what is it? If a some thoughts are good enough...at least in our estimation...to give to one person, why not to a lot of people who share more-or-less the same philosophy? We have been trying for years, to convince LP leaders that they are throwing away one of the most powerful tools...electronic leafleting...ever invented for spreading political ideas. The Demidupes and Pooblioobs have already tried it, but backed down quickly in the face a few angry flames, since they don't even PRETEND to have principles. Web sites, like ours, are good for preaching to the choir. But outreach is nearly impossible without a huge advertising budget or a lot of even more devious methods...like soliciting, via snail mail, money for "TV advertising" that ends up mostly in the pockets of your cronies. So, is opposition to political spam a "principled position" or merely an attempt avoid taking on an important political issue in the face of massive public resistance? We remind you that the First Amendment itself is also very annoying and unpopular, since it subjects one to exposure to all sorts of crazy nonsense. Furthermore, it could probably be repealed in an eyeblink, if submitted directly to the people.
Finally, a word to those who scoffed at our statement that "expelling an obnoxious guest from your house" is first use of force. Again, we chose this example because it actually requires careful thought, distinguishing a "guest" from an "intruder." A "guest" is someone you have INVITED into your house, much like the invitations represented by publishing one's email address on the Web. When, for any reason short of violence...say, the person gets drunk and pinches your mate's ass or makes loud and obnoxious comments...you subsequently throw him or her out, you are indeed initiating force. Like those of you who "threw us out" of your maiboxes, you would be doing it simply because he or she annoyed you, NOT because of some convoluted definition of "first use."
As computer professionals, we assure one and all that spam...however you define it...is here to stay. The recent Federal law, which requires spammers to remove anybody who requests removal from their mailing lists was hasty and ill conceived. For example, it does not prevent what we did last week, since we collected and used no list. If we continued to send anyone email in the face of their repeatedly asking us not to, this would eventually constitute harassment and is already firmly illegal, requiring no new legislation. There is even a term for it..."cyber-stalking." But, trying to imagine constitutionally valid legislation which would prevent you from ever receiving annoying email...or snail mail, or FAXes, or telephone calls...is truly mind boggling.
So, our advice is to firmly recognize that this is the 21st, not the 12th or even the 18th, century. Sooner or later, some political formation is going to understand what we are saying above. We hope that Libertarians "get it" first.
One further thing. We need a favor. This week, we ARE going to use a list to send this column to LP leaders, although this will be the first and last time we do so. This will allow us to avoid multiple copies and copies to email addresses that are not technically owned personally by LP leaders, but appear anyway on the first page of their Web sites. We are doing this so we can subsequently collect a list of all those who subscribe to Black Hole terrorism, as indicated by the bounced email. We want a (brave) volunteer to email the last two columns to that group, since we can not reach them from our domain. There are certainly risks, but we hope at least one of you feels as deeply as we about this issue and will help.
Talk to you later...
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