FC: San Francisco Bay Guardian column on Kirkland's Politech threats

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Also see Justicefiles.org's motion asking the judge to reconsider (I 
understand a ruling is expected this week):
http://www.politechbot.com/kirkland/defense.motion.0601.html

-Declan

---

http://sfbg.com/nessie/43.html

Free speech victory
Journalist Declan McCullagh uses the Internet to stand up to censorship

By nessie

Regular readers of this column have become accustomed by now to my 
ceaseless jeremiads against the menace of malevolent technology, the 
ceaseless depredations of the corporate-government complex, and unending 
cover-ups that conceal them. Frankly, it gets kind of depressing sometimes. 
So it gives me great pleasure to be able today to relay a bit of good news 
for a change. Cheer up, people. Sometimes we win one. Eventually we will 
win enough of them that the tide will turn.

In the meantime, alas, we must be content with small victories. The good 
news is that we just had one. In part it resulted from the nature of 
Internet technology. In part it resulted from the personal heroism of Wired 
News Washington, D.C. bureau chief Declan McCullagh. The heroes of 
journalism are all too often are recognized only posthumously. Don Bolles, 
Danny Casolaro, Alan Berg, et al, made their names immortal the hard way. 
But Declan McCullagh did something just as brave and, as it turned out, a 
whole lot smarter. We all owe him a debt of thanks for what he did. You, 
gentle reader, should write this man a personal thank you note, and Wired 
News should give him a well-deserved raise. He could have gone to jail for 
what he did to defend our right to the whole truth. [...]

The city of Kirkland has apparently given up trying to censor Declan 
McCullagh because the Internet is impossible for the government to censor. 
It would if it could, but it can't so it won't, and that's the sum of the 
story. [...]

McCullagh's archived post has since been mirrored at a number of sites, 
several outside the United States and thus beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. 
courts. Putting him in jail for contempt would be like locking the barn 
door after horse is gone. It also would be a great deal more trouble than 
it would be worth, because it would arouse righteous anger among freedom 
lovers everywhere, particularly in the United States. There is no denying 
that we Americans have our faults, but sitting quietly by while a 
journalist suffers for trying to tell us the truth is definitely not one of 
them. We would have raised bloody hell. [...]




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