Reactions to "Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb Scare"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: February 1, 2007 8:26:19 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Reactions to "Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb  
Scare"


Dave,

This may be of some interest to the readership.

As I anticipated, I've been receiving strong reactions
to "Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb Scare"
( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000210.html ).

While there's always a "silent majority" one never hears from, most
of the responses so far are falling into one of two categories which
are diametrically opposed to each other:

Category 1: The Cartoon Network campaign was utterly harmless
            performance art and the associated persons and companies
            should not be held responsible in any way.  Boston
            officials have no real justification at all for their
            actions in this case and are abusing free speech, while
            demonstrating a poorly run emergency response system.
            Shame on you, Lauren, for suggesting otherwise.

Category 2: The placing of the Cartoon Network campaign light boxes
            near major transportation corridors, in combination with
            more or less contemporaneous but unrelated
            "conventional" (hoax) threats, fully justifies the
            authorities' actions.  Any suggestion that they
            overreacted is itself an overreaction.  Shame on you,
            Lauren, for suggesting otherwise.

When I find myself sitting on the fulcrum (ouch!) at the center of
an essentially balanced reaction equation on a controversial topic,
I tend to suspect that I've staked out a reasonable position.

So I'll stand by my original assessment.  The Cartoon Network
campaign was misguided and a stupid move -- and the Boston
authorities overreacted.  All I can do is call 'em as I see them.

By the way, the judge initially pulled into this case has already
suggested that the serious "bomb hoax" charges seem unlikely to hold
up, since there appears to be no evidence of the required intent on
the part of the Cartoon Network culprits.  Based on existing public
information, this seems to be an appropriate view.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
   - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com







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