Re: Declan appearing on "Europe's Most Wanted"

["Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+@CMU.EDU>]

Excerpts from internet.cypherpunks: 1-Feb-96 Declan appearing on
"Europe.. by Timothy C. May@got.net 
> The situation with Declan, Sameer, Duncan, and others, is even less clear.
> Things are moving much faster now that the Net is the means of
> distribution. I was of course half-joking about Declan visiting Europe, but
> surely France could decide to throw the book at him, and any EU country he
> entered (such as Ireland, judging from his name) could hold him at their
> entry point and ship him off to France to "set an example."

Tim, you really know how to scare a fellow with this Subject: line this
early in the morning!

My take on the situation, from cyberia and WELL discussions, is that if
a book is banned under French law, it may be difficult to sue for
copyright violations. (Intuitively, this sorta makes sense. If you are
*unable* to sell it, what damages are there?) Also, international law
would require that the copyright holder sue in my local U.S. court.

I have not heard from either the publisher or author, even though French
ISPs have linked to my page and it's been getting a decent amount of
traffic. Interestingly, almost all the comments I've received have been
positive -- only two negative responses, including one email bombing
attempt. I would be interested to know what the publisher and author's
perspectives are on this. Reports from France indicate that the
publisher, Plon, is *not* going to sue the guy who first put it online.

> In Declan's case, I suspect France wants him for the Mitterand book and
> Germany wants him for the Zundelsite mirrors. The lesser European countries
> will of course follow their leads.

I'm not too worried about France, but I'm having second thoughts about
Germany. Let's just say I'm not planning a vacation there anytime soon.
:)

> Seriously, Declan, I admire what you've done, but I hope you don't plan to
> leave the U.S. for Europe anytime soon.

Thanks, Tim. I haven't actually spoken to my attorney (the former head
of the local ACLU) about this, and perhaps I should have. *sigh* He'll
probably yell at me for getting involved in yet another controversy...

-Declan