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Biotech / Medical : Pluvia vs. Westergaard
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To: Joseph G. who wrote (724)8/30/1997 11:17:00 PM
From: Superhawk   of 1267
 
You wrote that you regard Westergaard's actions as analagous to
showing a weapon in a public place and demanding everyone obey,
or gangsters having a right to extort with the victim's recourse being
to seek civil remedies.

Your examples are vivid and succinctly and powerfully stated, but I
think they miss the mark in Pluvia vs. Westergaard. Brandishing a
gun in public and engaging in extortion are clearly against the law;
in P vs. W, probably neither side has done anything illegal. However,
Westergaard's published intent to loose his Cyberpatrol, to monitor
the internet constantly, and to attempt to identify any evidence of
hostile information being presented creates a terrible asymmetry.
Westergaard implies he will take legal action ("Our lawyers will be
contacting the service and identify those individuals.") Becoming
involved in a lawsuit is a very expensive and emotionally draining
undertaking, especially so with a deep-pockets adversary. The hint
of such a consequence should be sufficient to shut up most of those
who would dare consider posting bearish opinions. By silencing most
of the potential critics of his WBN "Member Affiliates", Westergaard
has already achieved his goals by default.

By playing off society's fear of litigation, Westergaard has won. This
debate on freedom of speech and right to post anonymously is
wonderfully invigorating, but I think John W. couldn't care less. He's
already spreading the good news to his cyber affiliates.
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