All the previous efforts to keep censorship away from the Internet will have
been to no avail if this action succeeds as it will introduce censorship by
stealth inn the worst way - through our own anxiety about being involved in
a similar action.
We all know how hard it is to get a wide range of responses to topics on
discussion groups like ours - the ratio of active participants to lurkers
will plummet.This may well be the thin edge of the wedge and will sour world
wide enjoyment of the hobby that we all get so much satisfaction from. It
saddens me to anticipate a possible victory for the "well-heeled but
thin-skinned" over the "well-intentioned but thinly-resourced".
As a corollary I would hope that all hobbyists, especially those in North
America, advise their local "petswarehouse" that they will never deal with
or recommend an organisation which approaches life and commerce with
litigation as their principal strategy.
I was pleased to see that several members of the much-maligned law
fraternity in the USA who are aquarists have offered their services "free"
to the defendants. It does tend to temper some of the sourness associated
with this sorry episode.
In conclusion, I have always found the APD discussion group to consistently
be a source of high quality information well-mannered debate with "flaming"
virtually absent . I have never noticed any heavy-handed approach by
Cynthia, the moderator, and purveyors of "pointed" prose have had it
politely pointed out.I hope this does not adversely affect the APD or this
discussion group.
Regards,
Bruce ( Hansen )
vicepresident - ANGFA Inc (www.angfa.org.au)
- ANGFA (Qld) Inc (www.angfaqld.org.au)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harro Hieronimus" <Harro.Hieronimus at t-online.de>
To: "rainbowfish" <rainbowfish at pcug.org.au>
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 5:17 AM
Subject: [RML] OT but important
> I received this news. It may be interesting for some of you.
>
> Harro
>
> A group of aqurium hobbyists who frequent the Internet
> Aquatic Plant
> Digest have been sued in Federal court for $15,000,000
> by Robert Novak
> d/b/a petswarehouse.com.