Interesting reading your feelings H2Oshinksy. Ok, it it a public board, but is it? b/c we have paid to be members, so doesn't that give some exclusivity or whatnot? Now, i can see why it might be public b/c they allow non-members to read, but not post.
The question then becomes, if SI permits only members to have access, is SI a private website? I would then tend to think so. If so, are private websites permitted to do, say, whatever they want?
Regarding identities, almost all sites with messages boards, to my knowledge, ask for a pseudonom - are there any that require one's real name to be used? Assuming over 90% have the pseudonom 'business model', I think almost all boards are in the same position - it is not just SI. Yet, again, perhaps boards should be differentiated by whether payment is required/made, does this not separate the sites?
Moving on to individual websites requiring payment - in this category I am thinking of anyone who goes out and creates their own website and then has persons register or register and pay. Do these sites fall into the same catory as sites created by corporations such as SI/Go To Net or Yahoo?
So, assuming there are 500 persons at one of these new sites created by an individual, and it requires a password to enter, whether by free registration or payment (ie. you can't just happen upon it while browing the web), can persons within that site say what they like?
ie. where does Freedom of Speech come in?
Re SI liability, if SI provides a method for persons to wreak havoc, then surely some other boards/sites are much worse off.
Now, is all of this SEC related? Consider a fellow I just responded to who says he is in Prague, Czechoslavakia (sp). Suppose that person is not a US citizen, so it is clearly someone out there who likes the US market, but not a US citizen. Is that person in a foreign country to be regulated by the SEC? I have read some things from a fellow named Anthony@Pacific who continues to mention 'offshore accoiunts' and that SEC regulations do not apply. Is this the mechanism for persons to say and do what they want ie to be outside the USA?
I though America stood for Free Speech, assuming it's not bashing, etc., that one could say pretty much what they wanted.
Comments? Thoughts? My poin again, if we sit back and just take what any regulatory body decides is best, without having a say or providing input, it is likely to not be to everyone's liking. |
