Sender: John Whiting <•••@••.•••> I suspect that Michael Strangelove is confusing virtual with corporeal reality, as if in an effort to give a spurious formal structure to John Howard Barlow's powerful but rhetorical metaphor. One can speak meaningfully of a conflict of interest or of jurisdiction between nation-states and multinational corporations because both are capable of claiming immense power over the lives of people whom they govern and/or employ. Cyberspace, however, is only a means of communication through which such forces can operate. In itself, it has no direct power for good or evil, unless one is convinced that, like Scientology, it exerts some sort of hypnotic influence. It cannot levy taxes; it cannot raise an army; it cannot prosecute in its own courts; it cannot hire and fire. In fact, it has none of the trappings of a global force which have been manifested by, say, the Vatican or the Communist International. John Whiting Diatribal Press London ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ CyberJournal: (WWW or FTP) --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
