[WSIS CS-Plenary] Bush admin. objects to .xxx domains

[Rui Correia]

Hi John

I've taken the liberty of bringing you into the fray on this .xxx debate, as
I saw you were not listed among the organisations mentioned by Angela-Jo
Medina (see context in email below). This specific debate is taking place on
the plenary discussion list of the Civil Society organisations and
individuals involved with the World Summit on the Information Society. 

We look forward to your contribution on this matter. 

Hi Angela-Jo/ Others

John Silver is the Executive Director of FreePress
"Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase
informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to
generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public
interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial
sector"
http://www.freepress.net/ 

Best regards,

Rui


________________________________________________
 
 
Rui Correia
Advocacy, Media and Language Consultant
38 Finch St, 
Ontdekkers Park, Roodepoort, 
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel/ Fax (+27-11) 766-4336
Cell (+27) (0) 83-368-1214



-----Original Message-----
From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
Of Angela-Jo Medina
Sent: 22 August 2005 08:40
To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
Subject: RE: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Bush admin. objects to .xxx domains

[Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list.
Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for specific people.
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_______________________________________

Hello:

In light of this last comment by Milton regarding:

"I believe the Bush admin feeds off of the kind of opposition from
"outsiders" you describe and while transnational forces certainly
constitute a very important check on abuses of US power, political
change in the US can only come from within the US."

I would have to agree, hence, in terms of lobbying to be done from
within the United States, perhaps it would be good to get in touch with
civil liberty groups, that specifically address many of the
"constitutional" issues this deals with: freedom of speech, -perhaps
even freedom of association-. The ACLU (www.aclu.org) is the first that
comes to mind. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (if it isn't dealing
with the subject already), the Bill or Rights Defense Committee
(http://www.bordc.org/), the First Amendment Project
(www.thefirstamendmendment.org), People for the American Way
(www.pfaw.org), Alliance for Justice (www.afj.org) are others. 
 
The biggest difficulty that might arise when trying to organize a lobby
around this issue however is, as Robert noted, the conservative chill
that is in effect. In a country in which civil liberties are being
gnawed away at systematically, I'd be afraid that issues related to free
speech within the context pornography wouldn't be high on the
progressive list of priorities.


Best,

Angela-Jo Medina
Http://www.concienciaccion.org


-----Original Message-----
From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On
Behalf Of Milton Mueller
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 10:01 PM
To: mclauglm at po.muohio.edu; plenary at wsis-cs.org
Subject: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Bush admin. objects to .xxx domains


[Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire
list. Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for
specific people. Your cooperation is highly appreciated] 
_______________________________________

>>> mclauglm at po.muohio.edu 08/16/05 6:59 PM >>>
>I don't know enough about the
>DNS to help out in drafting a letter, but if Milton and others, who 
>know far more than I do about this, draft a letter for Civil Society,

>I will be happy to sign on behalf of my organization.

That's really great, Lisa. It should not be too hard to come up with a
statement that is broadly acceptable if you and I can agree.

More for fun and intellectual give and take than for practical reasons,
I wish to clarify my own reaction to your interesting and provocative
"fear of Americans" 

I don't fear "Americans" but unbridled power. It so happens that our
country has the most military and economic power at the moment, which
leads to many of the problems we face. But the problems would be the
same if it were Europeans (as we learned in the last century) or Asians
(as the Chinese learned during the reign of Mao) of Africans or
...aliens. 

>As an American, I'm afraid of Americans too--at least the
>ones who are dominating this country and are in the 
>administration at the moment: the Religious Right. We 
>should all be very afraid, and I'm convinced that we have 
>come to a point where only pressure from outside the US 
>or transnational groups is going to make a difference 
>in respect to the Bush administration's hubris. 

Unfortunately, I believe the Bush admin feeds off of the kind of
opposition from "outsiders" you describe and while transnational forces
certainly constitute a very important check on abuses of US power,
political change in the US can only come from within the US. 


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