[WikiEN-l] Re: Trading with the Enemy

[Charles Matthews]

Delirium wrote

> I don't care all that much one way or the other, personally, but I think
> the main point was that if we're going to suggest that the servers need
> to be moved out of the US because of a theoretical possibility of legal
> troubles over copyediting Iranian posts, then we need to be concerned
> about all sorts of other theoretical possibilities in other countries,
> including Official Secrets Acts, laws about insulting presidents, and so
on.

The comments by RickK were aimed at supposed restrictions on freedom of
speech, or freedom of publication, or whatever.  It is a more than
theoretical possibility that web sites based anywhere might have *some*
restriction on content based on the laws of the land.  But why is this is
considered an argument?  Locating servers that were theoretically subject to
the UK's Official Secrets Act, which is a 'non-freedom of information'
measure, might well be better than locating them in a USA where a wiki might
theoretically might have to self-police to avoid any 'trading with the
enemy' under the wide definition.  After all, those posting official secrets
to a web site probably know damn well they are doing that; while someone
innocently editing a page that happened to be written by an Iranian gets
'criminalised' unwittingly.

Charles