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.