: : My personal belief is that whether something is legal or illegal is largely irrelevant, what's far more important is whether its morally right or justifiable. At the end of the day the only time oppressive laws get removed is when people start defying them in large numbers.: Oh really? And if somebody were to take the advice on this board, shut off a gas spigot, and cause an explosion or gas leak which killed people, would you still feel righteous because the ends justify the means?
I specifically warned fighters to familiarize themselves with the mission and the hardware before deploying-that is, to know how to turn the gas OFF-not up to an excessive pressure-and NOT to tamper with the connections of gas line to meter.
: If I as a lawyer tell you that your anticipated strategy could result in jail time, huge fines, or a prolonged trial which you might win in the end, but be bankrupted in during the process, would you walk away in a huff because I told you some unpleasant facts? Maybe you would, but I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't point out the ugly truth to you.
You seem to forget the whole POINT of McSpotlight. The board was set up to support people who struck the corporate monster and WERE sued-and had the stones to still defy the enemy and rely on judgement-proof(no reachable assets) status. I do agree that only judgement-proof people (or people operating in countries whose laws do not favor the enemy) should risk a lawsuit. This puts people like me-or the McLibel defendents-on point in this war against corporate greed. Obviously, the people who set up McSpotlight consent to the risk-and set up in the Netherlands to impede censorship efforts. In addition, when first set up they had three mirror sits to further impede the efforts of censors. As for suits or even activists being arrested for direct action, remember that in every war both sides expect some casualties, and, of course, support for POWs has been an issue in some social movements(such as the IRA and the ALF). We CANNOT allow such losses to paralyze the rest of us.
Remember, class warfare is WAR-so the rules are NOT those of anyone's law, but only those of war, which to me means keep non-participants out of the line of fire and treat POW's with respect. Otherwise, anything goes. In fact, the only difference between a political campaign and a war is the tools used and the possible costs. Obviously, political people can no more be bound by the laws of their enemies than guerrilla fighters can accept orders from ENEMY officers.
: I believe that the risk of publishing (via the Internet) calls for illegal activity which could lead to death or injury outweigh whatever free discussion benefits might accrue, because (and this is where you really ought to pay attention), if an individual committed the act described on McSpotlight's bulletin board, and if this act resulted in death or injury, you can damn well be sure that in the resulting criminal or civil prosecution, McSpotlight will be dragged in and accused of being either criminally culpable or civilly liable in aiding and abetting the violence, especially since the Establishment sees this website as the embodiment of loony left wing activism. Yes, McSpotlight might win in the end, given its free speech protections and the vagueness of tying a message which happened to be posted on its board to the actions of the perpetrator, but the litigation would be long, expensive, and draining both physically and emotionally (sound familiar?). Win or lose, it could destroy this bulletin board, and that, volunteer Jill, is why I counsel against hosting such messages.
That's for those taking the risks to decide. If you don't get your ass in the grass, the risk isn't your problem.
