PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Protest Assault on your rights of free speech and privacy
by Ewan Kenkesmearse Friday, May. 16, 2003 at 9:06 AM

<span style="color:#cc0000;">Most readers will be aware that this story is unsubstantiated and untrue. Please refer to IMC Pittsburgh editorial guidelines for reference: <a href="http://indypgh.org/process/openpub.php#ed">http://indypgh.org/process/openpub.php#ed</a> This site is not a "bulletin board," it is a newswire, and posts here are subject to be legitimately removed for a variety of reasons. -IMC Editorial</span><br><br> Your rights of free speech and free expression are being attacked by IndyMedia. The arbitrary application of fluid editorial standards by the IMC editorial collective is an unjust assault on your rights and a violation of IMC's own policies and statements on privacy and access.

IndyMedia actively censors the voice of opposition to its favored viewpoints on its website. IndyMedia has taken an active role in blocking the views and voices of persons who post statements which IndyMedia does not believe support IMC's preferred political and social viewpoints. In doing so, IMC has violated its own policies on privacy and access. IndyMedia�s malleable definition of �spam� appears to include only those posts which it disagrees with, rather than postings of the �attack� type normally associated with spamming or of the type which is promoted by IMC and other posters at this site against other website operators with the use of �peacetool� and �wartool� software programs. Notably, the use of �peacetool and wartool could be legally actionable conduct, yet it is actively promoted at the IMC site.

By its conduct, IMC has also stepped up its involvement in the discourse on this site from that of a mere passive bulletin board to one of active publisher with involvement in content. This increases IMC's potential for liability to persons harmed by the activities at the IMC site (including liability for slanderous and libelous statements posted on this site). IMC�s conduct as an active participant or moderator in the �open� discussion at this site also exposes IMC to potential criminal liability for criminal conduct which may be facilitated through this site. For example, if �diverse tactics� at a protest are coordinated on these pages, and such �diverse tactics� result in criminal conduct, then IMC could become a co-conspirator in the criminal activity. This is not a novel legal concept, and has resulted in legal liability against other websites where the site operator has been involved in the acceptance, editing, or editorial oversight of the content on its site.

IMC and its editorial board profess to promote free and open discourse, but the actions of the editorial board do not evidence a commitment to this purpose. Clearly, IMC is not a fan of free speech or open discussion. It seems that any views expressed which IMC determines do not fit with its own political views, which might challenge IMC's political views or those of posters at this site, or which may be deemed "offensive" to the delicate sensitivities of IMC's chosen few, are cause for censorship. Notably, IMC�s editorial involvement clearly goes beyond hiding or censoring posts which are racially, ethnically or inherently offensive. It is only those posts which might be offensive to an alternative point of view which appear to obtain the editorial ire of IMC. Thus, IMC is exercising editorial control over the content and discussion on this site, which means that the site is anything but an �open� discussion board.

IMC does not apply these standards and practices uniformly. Certain posters at this site are permitted latitude to use language and conduct which would have posters voicing a less "leftist" view banned from the site. Where the favored posters are allowed to post a rather vile picture of a large naked man at a computer, other less favored posters would be denied their right to voice their ideas or opinions for far less offensive postings. Voicing an alternative to the leftist refuse common to the IMC pages is not �spamming,� it is merely part of �open� discussion. But clearly, IMC and its supporters are afraid of �open� discussion, since this would erode IMC�s hold on the monolithic ideology of its sheep-like supporters.

IMC has stated a policy of not tracking internet access, but this is not true. IMC does actively track this information and uses it against those that IMC finds �undesirable� to the leftist party guest list. What is more troubling is that IMC's conduct of tracking internet access gives IMC the exceptional opportunity to abuse that information. IMC's proces of denying access involves tracking tools and invasive tecniques which we would all be up in arms about if such conduct were undertaken by the government or some corproations. Once denied the opportunity to speak at IMC, it is peculiar that the affected poster should then become the subject of an assault on their own internet account. Is IMC sharing this information with others who undertake such activities as those that the posters of the naked fat man at the computer urge all to undertake against various websites that IMC and others might find ideologically objectionable? Or is IMC undertaking this electronic espionage on its own?

What is IMC afraid of? Are the ideas of those that voice an alternative to the typical diet of inch-deep leftist analysis and diatribe at this site so threatening to IMC's existence that IMC must act in contradiction of its own stated principles and written policies. IMC's conduct offends the expectation of privacy that visitors to this site should be afforded and led to believe would be respected by virtue of IMC's own policies. Everyone, even those that voice a different opinion than you, should not have to be subject to IMC's assault on civil liberties.

Regardless, IMC's conduct is disappointing and should be offensive to anyone who values the rights of free speech, open discourse and privacy. Even Faux News and Bill O'Reilly do not exercise this offensive level of censorship of opposing viewpoints. All that IMC accomplishes with this conduct is to prove that IMC and its supporters are hypocrites who are afraid (yes, shivering and frightened like kittens in a storm) of the ideas of opposition that challenge their poorly thought, but tightly held, views of the world. You may say that you support our rights to free speech and to voice ideas with which you disagree, but you are lying to yourselves and the world. You are truly afraid of the enlightenment that comes with our voices, our vision, our ideas.

Has IMC learned NOTHING from the great S.Odamninsane Day of Healing and Reflection ???

Please join in an indefinite protest of these IMC practices and support a return to free and open discourse by posting frequently on this string and others at this site your own voice in opposition of IMC�s practices. We must continue the struggle to have IMC lift the iron fist of oppression from our keyboards and remove the probing eye of illicit surveillance form our web-access. We will not stop until ALL persons affected by IMC�s arbitrary exercise of its authority are once again free to post at the IMC website. IMC MUST STOP ITS TYRANNY !!!

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