Blind Vigilantes
Bret A. Fausett,
New Architect,
Sept 12, 2002
This article explains as clearly as anything why it is wrong to allow private corporation to actively enforce things like copyright law. "The group based in Denmark had pretended to be me, forged an email as though it had come from an address that only I am authorized to use, passed it through the mail server in my house, and then placed me on a list of people who should be blocked from sending mail." The author was innocent, but there was no appeal, there was no recourse... and the author found that spammers were using the list as targets for mail relaying. Moreover, "It's easy to imagine blacklists used for less noble purposes. For example, imagine that the RIAA compiled a list of IP addresses which, it contended, had at some time used peer-to-peer file sharing programs... isn't difficult to imagine that the RIAA could pressure a sufficient number of ISPs into subscribing to this copyright blackhole list and blocking access to their users." No appeal. No recourse.
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