This tribe is for discussing issues that we face today concerning our privacy and civil liberties. This tribe is not a forum for personally attacking individual tribe members. Attacking people like this does not foster discussion, it makes people feel uncomfortable (particularly the person being attacked!), and in general drives discussion away from the issues at hand. Most importantly, personal attacks are not something I'm going to tolerate in this tribe, by anyone. I'm now up to speed on what's gone on in the past between a few members of this tribe, and I'm of the opinion that the fairest option is to handle any situations on a going forward basis. And I hope I'm making myself clear on this point -- no personal attacks, no threatening behavior, no veiled attacks, no stalking. If I get any complaints about such behavior, the perpetrator is out of here. The issues are charged enough without personal attacks thrown in - I want people to feel like they can discuss civil liberties issues without being attacked in this way. Attack weaknesses in the person's argument, not the person.

As we know, our constitutional rights can be asserted against the government, not corporations (absent a statute or case law), but I think most of us feel that we should try to incorporate the ideals of free speech and other rights into the social networks where we spend our time. This doesn't mean that those rights and ideals trump everything; nothing is absolute - which is why I don't have a problem removing anyone who attacks others here. Your free speech rights end when you start the personal attacks.

Finally, I just want to say that privacy, the First Amendment, and online civil rights are the areas where I spend almost all of my working hours; so it's no surprise that I'd spend my time on Tribe talking about these issues. I think they're hugely important, and hopefully you all do too, otherwise you wouldn't be here. So let's discuss those topics. In this tribe, any opinion by anyone on the issues is welcome. Discussions are best when opinions from all sides are heard.

Now you know where I stand. I'm open to suggestions....