[thechat] WHOIS & public info?

[Erika Meyer]

I hear ya, Drew.  I think this is where I hit a cultural pothole with
this other mailing list.  They were worried I was going to set off
some freakazoid stalker... I guess I can understand...

otoh maybe folks ought to know where their privacy begins and ends on
the web, you know?  And then they can act in a more informed manner.

As for shame associated with rape, etc, good for that girl who
refused to be ashamed.

I *hate* it when people make you feel like you should be ashamed
about something beyond your control... example: I was a welfare mom
for 3 years.  And f no, I'm not ashamed.

Another example: my daughter's father is in jail right now.  I don't
really know what for.  I don't keep it quiet.  And I have  fear in
the back of my head that if she says something, someone will tell her
to keep it quiet.  I pity the person who tries to instill shame and
silence in my child.

Another example: 2 local girls disappeared from the same apartment
complex. Turns out the guy they now have in custody (for a different
rape attempt) -- one of the missing girls had said he'd molested
her... and her father had also molested her, and others... the adults
in her life did not report this molest accusation to authorities
because they thought it would make the teen girl look bad to have so
many molest accusations.

Well, gee, maybe if the guy had been arrested, the same girl would be
ALIVE now.  No body's been found, but it's likely both girls were
killed by this guy.

And oh yeah,  apparently this guy told his son and his ex wife he'd
killed the girls... and no one said a damn word... until he tried to
rape maybe kill his son's girlfriend.  Suddenly everyone's talking.

AIDs activists used to say "silence = death."

Erika

>   Are you aware that at least one of those girls was utterly horrified by
>the fact that the media stopped using their names?

<snip>

>   (This feeds into/off-of one of my basic beliefs: I've got a hacker-ish
>principle that information should be freely available - because it's
>available anyway. With sufficient time or money, I - or you, or anyone -
>can find any piece of information that exists.)
>
>   Drew.
>
>
>Drew Shiel                               webmaster at swiftpay.com

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