On Sep 17, 5:50*pm, Richard the Dreaded Libertarian
wrote:
On Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:25:57 -0700, rangerssuck wrote:

I wouldn't write anything in these places that I wouldn't want a
prospective employer, an IRS agent, a cop or my wife to see.

So, you're just bending over and abandoning your right to Freedom
of Speech?

How sad.
Rich

When did I say that? All I said is that, unlike Vegas, what is said on
usenet is pretty much public information. I don't think I'm giving up
my rights to free speech every time I DON'T climb up a tower with a
bullhorn and let everyone for miles around know what's on my mind.
Likewise, I don't think I'm giving up any rights at all by minding my
words in this public forum.

I know I have the "right" to say whatever I want in public. That does
NOT mean that I HAVE to say everything in public.

A real problem I've noticed with Libertarians and second amendment
types is that there seems to be this feeling that if you are not
constantly "exercising" your rights, that you are giving them up,
which will somehow lead to losing them permanently. Look, you have a
right to privacy. Do you feel violated every time you go out in
public? If not, how is that any different from choosing not to always
speak your mind in public or not to always carry a gun?

BTW, the two links I cited yesterday that lead back to this discussion
are NOT from government agencies. They are from a commercial search
engine that you probably use every day. If they were not indexing all
this stuff, it would be harder to find things on the internet. I AM a
bit wary of Google, but that doesn't make me hide from them, either.
What does **** me off about Google is their ongoing attempt to
undermine copyright law (google "orphan works act") In that respect,
they have shown quite clearly that, in addition to their stated goal
of "organizing the world's information," they also want to *OWN* that
information.

I think the sadness here is that you so completely misread what I
wrote.