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I asked someone last night to remind me of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' 5 stages of dying. They don't exactly describe what I've been going through, I skipped the bargaining stage, but there is some correlation. What has died is the last vestige of my faith in the federal government. Ruby Ridge and Waco did that for some of the people whose web sites I read, but I wasn't paying attention when those happenned. This time I was. Hate won't fix the problem, however, though it's nowhere near as simple as the end of Return of the Jedi. The battle between pacifism and rightful self-defense is still raging within me. I need to study The Voluntaryist, starting by finishing I Must Speak Out, which I've been reading on-and-off for a while now (available from Laissez Faire Books).
Andre Goldman at The Laissez Faire City Times - Justice Without Force: an idea for providing justice for commerce without governments and without force. This is part 1, which presents motivation, the general idea, and a faq. Part 2 presents some reasons why Mr. Goldman thinks it can work.
For the last several thousand years, nearly all humans have lived and died under some form of rulership. The types and flavors of governments have shifted and changed over time, but the justification for their existence has generally remained the same: Someone (the State) must provide for justice, and have the muscle to back it up. This has been accepted as a valid justification for government even by the most notable libertarian and objectivist thinkers.But what if there were another way?
...
What if we don't want to use your system? Don't. Remember, there is no Ruler here. Our purpose is to provide voluntary, pay-per-use justice in cyberspace. If you don't like us, don't use us. And by the way, that is what keeps us honest. We have no monopoly on justice; if we don't do a good job, we won't have customers. Some day we will have competitors; and whoever provides the best justice will make the most money. (Quite a concept, huh?)
Learn of the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide, before it's too late. [grabbe]
Ed Foster at InfoWorld - Maryland Legislature caves to UCITA, but Iowa may offer a safe haven from law: "The bomb-shelter law says that a transaction between an Iowa party and a party that tries to invoke the law of a UCITA state will instead be subject to the laws of Iowa -- a fine example of Midwestern common sense, if you ask me. An amendment to this effect was passed by the Iowa House as part of its Electronic Transaction Act (HF 2205) and now awaits consideration by the Senate. Software industry lobbyists are swarming into the state like angry mosquitoes. Perhaps some of the common sense that has been lacking on either shore of the Potomac will be found in more abundance in the Midwest." [/.]
"Freenet is a peer-to-peer network designed to allow the distribution of information over the Internet in an efficient manner, without fear of censorship. Freenet is completely decentralized, meaning that there is no person, computer, or organisation in control of Freenet or essential to its operation." I've pointed at this before, but it's worth repeating. [cafe]
I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say "Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?" -Mike Godwin
