An anonymous user posted the following on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Blocking_policy :
== Blocking anonymizer's proxies is unconstitutional ==
*'''The right to anonymous free speech is protected by the 1st amendment of the US constitution.'''
*'''Anonymity--the ability to conceal one's identity while communicating--enables the expression of political ideas and the practice of religious belief without fear of intimidation or public retaliation.'''
:''Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.'' :<small>Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 1995.</small>
Some Wikipedia members (sysops) have implemented a policy to routinely block users that choose to post using an anonymous proxy ([[Wikipedia:Blocking_policy#Anonymous_and_open_proxies]])
These members of Wikipedia have decided to block the ability of people to the right of anonymity giving reasons related to the need to curb vandalism of articles.
These are not sufficient reasons to limit my liberties and the liberties of others. The WP community is strong enough to withstand vandalism, without resorting to these measures.
Case in point: On February 9, [[User:David.Monniaux]] blocked IP address 168.143.113.125 (anonymizer.com), a respected and paid service for anonymous browsing. This IP address was used by hundreds of WP users that wanted to protect their anonymity. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&target=1.... The steps taken by David Monniaux in blocking of that IP address have been disputed by me. ([[Talk:French_legislation_against_cult_abuses#Controversy_with_an_anonymous_user]].
I kindly request Wikipedia editors to re-open the debate about the right of the people to contribute to Wikipedia while protecting their rights to free speech, and to curb sysop powers to utilize blocking policies.
Copies of the above have been sent to: * The Electronic Privacy Information Center http://epic.org/ * The Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org/ * The American Civil Liberties Union http://aclu.org/
--[[User:38.119.107.72|38.119.107.72]] 23:53, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)