At 10:45 AM 12/4/2003, Steve Silverman wrote...
The Internet is _in part_ an intellectual construction but so is
the telephone network.
I disagree.
It doesn't do much without a physical implementation.
Cognitive thought doesn't exist without a brain. That doesn't mean that thought
is only "_in part_ an intellectual construction." :-)
Whatever rights you, I, or anyone else may think are
inalienable, in many parts of the world, the only rights anyone has
are what the
government allows. I'm not saying I like with this but as a practical
matter,
if the government controls the switches and can throw people in jail
(or simply shoot them), it can
also restrict what is implemented on the network equipment.
Many governments have over time attempted to control thought and personal
speech, and none has been successful for any extended period of time. The
Internet is no different, as it is easily re-configured and is by design
self-healing.