Locksmith's Guild wants limit on free speech

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

This is just an informal pointer, as I don't have the energy right now
to track down quotes, official positions, etc.

Check out comp.org.eff.talk for discussion of how "professional
locksmiths" are angry that "amateur locksmiths" (unlicensed, not real
members of the Brotherhood) are using the Net to disseminate and
discuss the Secret and Most Arcane Knowledge of the Guild.

And alt.locksmithing is carrying the stuff.

This is just one of several recent examples where a controversy is
developing. 

I have often likened the end of the medieval guilds to our current
situation. In 1300 A.D., the "Blacksmith's Guild" owned and controlled
the knowledge of blacksmithing, enforced by the Crown. Apprentices
were Initiates, and I have little doubt that attempts to "steal"
this knowledge were dealt with harshly, probably fatally.

This "intellectual property law" of its time was rendered moot when
books became economical. The first books published after Gutenberg
were religious in nature--Bibles and hymnals, etc. Then came "How To"
books, the destroyers of the Guilds.

Crypto and remailers are going to do the same thing to today's
versions of guilds, what we call "licensed professions."

--Tim May

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