IP: RE: The Constitution & The Internet

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

From: "Alan R. Schwartz" <AlanSchwartz () CapitalValue com>
To: <farber () cis upenn edu>




I could not resist finding this quote from A Man for All Seasons (Robert
Bolt):


More: ...The law, Roper, the law. I know what's legal, not what's right. And
I'll stick to what's legal.


Roper: Then you set man's law above God's!


More: No, far below; but let me draw your attention to a fact - I'm not God.
The currents and eddies of right and wrong, which you find such plain
sailing, I can't navigate. I'm no voyager. But in the thickets of the law,
oh, there I'm a forester.


Roper: ...You'd give the Devil the benefit of law?


More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after
the Devil?


Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!


More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on
you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? The country's
planted thick with laws from coast to coast - man's laws, not God's - and if
you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - d'you really think
you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the
Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.




-----Original Message-----
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[mailto:owner-ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com]On Behalf Of Dave Farber
Sent: Monday, August 24, 1998 6:45 PM
To: ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com
Subject: IP: The Constitution & The Internet






ASPEN, Colorado (Wired) - "Why should public values not have a role?,"
asks Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig about the building of the
Internet.
A keynote speaker at the "Aspen Summit 98," sponsored by Newt Gingrich's
Progress and Freedom Foundation, Lessig acknowledged that "it would be a
disaster for [members of] the government to become code writers....But the
Constitution should have some effect on [the architecture of the Internet]."
Lessig says the Internet rises above purely private enterprise to "world-
building." He wants values to be protected and suggests not to do so will
help
erode confidence in government. Dissenting is John Perry Barlow of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation: "Larry wants to make cyberspace safe for
law.
I want to keep law out of cyberspace."