4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 6, 1995 UObe idtigau 4ruiI JAMES M. NASH ON THERECORD 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited1 and managed by students at the University of Michigan i MICHAEL ROSENBERG Editor in chief JULIE BECKER JAMES M. NASH Editorial Page Editors Behbd the technology, new threats to our prvacy loom Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority ofthe Daily 's editorial board. All other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Yitzhak Rab in,1922-95 Slain Israeli leader worked tirelessly for peace Y tzhak Rabin, 73, the brave architect of the Mideast peace process, was assassi- nated Saturday night, reportedly at the hands ofa young Jewish fundamentalist. Rabin was gunned down at point-blank range, minutes after joining Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and a crowd of around 100,000 in a poignant, moving song for peace. It is bitterly ironic that Rabin's murder occurred at the scene of Israel's largest outpouring of pro- peace sentiment this year.r Born in Jerusalem in 1922, Yitzhak Rabin became Israel's first native-born prime minister in +C; 1974, in the aftermath of the Yom J Kippur War. In his decades of service to the Israeli nation and her quest for freedom and peace,, Rabin'sjourney has paralleled that Rabin ofhis nation: born from the ashes of the Holocaust in 1948, inde- pendence from the British, the waging of five costly wars, countless military skirmishes, massive influxes of immigrants, spiraling inflation, regional boycotts and international terrorism. Today, Rabin has brought Israel to its most defining moment in 47 years of state- hood. Israel, beset by vicious domestic dis- cord and the continued opposition to the peace process ofconservative Israelis, stands at a most important crossroads: either the culmination ofpeace talks with Israel's former enemies or the demise of four years of ardu- ous negotiations. Rabin was a Israeli national hero, a sol- dier, a commander, a diplomat, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and a remarkable, courageous statesman. He fought for Israeli indepen- dence from 1941 to 1948 as a young Haganah commander, in charge of a unit stuck with a decidedly difficult task - to open up the treacherous, winding Tel Aviv to Jerusalem road. In 1967, Rabin - as the Israeli army's chief of staff- directed the Six Day War, in which Israel seized the Sinai Peninsula, the Old City of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. On thermorning of June 7, 1967, Rabin, along with Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, was one of the first Israelis to witness the libera- tion of the Western Wall by Jewish troops. Shaken, Rabin said a silent prayer for peace while his men shed tears ofjoy. From 1968 to 1974, he served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States, and in 1974 joined Golda Meir's cabinet as the Minister of Labor. A month later he was elected to the prime ministership. In the summer of 1992, Rabin, at the age of 70, was chosen for a second time to lead Israel's Labor Party, ending 15 years of con- servative rule. With the help of Peres, Rabin undertook to revitalize and redirect the peace talks begun in Madrid in 1991. In 1993, Rabin ordered Peres to begin secret negotia- tions with the Palestine Liberation Organiza- tion, a group that a few short years ago was still dedicated to the outright destruction of the state of Israel. These talks led to the historic signing of the groundbreaking Dec- laration of Principles in Washington on Sept. 13, 1993. On this bright, sunny, late summer day, the war hero and national leader of the Jewish state shook hands with PLO Chair- man Yasser Arafat-until then Israel's most despised foe - in the White House Rose Garden. In 1994, Rabin continued to seek a peace- ful resolution of outstanding Arab-Israeli differences. Rabin's Labor government signed a full peace treaty with Jordan in October of that year, ending 27 years of Israeli occupation of the Gaza and Jericho. Amid Jewish settler violence and Islamic fundamentalist terror, Rabin established official dip- lomatic relations for the first time with Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, the Vatican and a num- ber of Arabic Gulf states. These bold moves have set the course for the possibility of a lasting peace between Arabs and Jews in the land where three conti- nents converge and three reli- gions were born. In his later years, Rabin was more a healer and a reconciliator than a man of war. He understood that to achieve real peace and security for his nation of almost 5 million, it was necessary to negotiate with the Palestin- ians and grant those living in the occupied territories basic political, civil and human rights. For Israel to be recognized as a sover- eign state with an inherent right to peacefully coexist between the shores of the Mediterra- nean, the Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, it had to come to terms with the funda- mental paradox that has plagued Israel since its inception: its mistreatment of Palestinian Arabs. Rabin, the Israeli freedom fighter of the '40s, dared to negotiate with a known terrorist, to withdraw troops from the strate- gic West Bank and to allow for free Palestin- ian elections, scheduled for early next year - a plebiscite that could conceivably el- evate militant Hamas politicians to power. But Rabin accurately saw the decision to negotiate a settlement now, although risky, as Israel's best - and maybe only - chance for peace. Rabin was a powerful, evocative symbol of a new Middle East. He gave people hope that Israel and its former enemies could tran- scend the past and defeat cynicism, religious violence and hate - not simply enjoy a brief respite between regional wars. Rabin's mes- sage was that although war has made en- emies out of neighbors, there is much more to live for than fighting, killing and bombing. Rabin's death, at this critical point in the peace talks, undoubtedly will have a pro- found effect on the Israeli people, whom he so eloquently led through times of war and uncertainty. As a leader, Rabin was stirring and persuasive. He expressed so many Jews' willingness to listen to the Palestinian people, to see the Palestinians' own desire, not un- like the Jewish people's, for self-determina- tion and peace. He knew, for Israel's sake, that it could do nothing less. The world has lost a man who believed in his people, his nation and, at the time of his tragic death, in the ability of both Jews and Arabs to see past their differences and grasp their shared values. He died on Saturday. The world must hope the prospects for peace didn't die as well. W ith every whisper of mergers or mega- acquisitions in the media world, free- speech advocates cry foul. Media Magnate Mickey Mouse and Culture Contaminant Time-Warner are labeled grave threats to the free exchange of ideas and information, if not to the integrity of American culture itself. In corporate boardrooms, the logic goes, information becomes a commodity like any other, to be sold to the highest bidder. Perhaps. But the outcry over media con- glomerates obscures another, graver, threat to the free flow ofinformation. Corporations and government officials have drawn a noose around the Internet. The question is: How tight will they - or can they - pull it? While some would-be government cen- sors see the Internet as a network that can be tamed like any TV network, in reality it is a formless, boundless collection of computers and servers that crosses national boundaries. That makes the Internet frustratingly diffi- cult to regulate. But it doesn't stop some from trying. Consider the "Clipper," the federal government's skeleton key to all Internet e- mail, even encrypted messages. Free-speech advocates saw the Clipper as a dangerous tool for Big Brother to eavesdrop on private conversations. Government officials insisted the Clipper was needed to intercept mes- sages from organized criminals, drug cartels and terrorists. The debate continues, with serious consequences awaiting its outcome. Last summer, Congress invited a firestorm of criticism with the Communica- tions Decency Act of 1995, an attempt to filter pornography from the free flow of data moving over the Internet. The act - while well-intentioned-was the first Machiavel- lian legislative attempt to stamp a set of morals on the Internet. It would have im- posed penalties of up to $100,000 and two years of prison on anyone knowingly trans- mitting "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent" pictures or text over electronic networks accessible to minors. The act was virtually unenforceable- it could only cover U.S. citizens who transmit- ted materials undertheirtrue names. Itwould not apply to citizens ofother countries, whose postings are accessible to Americans. Any- one with the computer knowledge to post anonymously or pseudonymously could elude efforts to enforce the law. Lawmakers have given up on the Communications De- cency Act but are pressing ahead with legis- lation to curtail the circulation of "blue" material over the Internet. Free-speech ad- vocates have found an unlikely ally in House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who blasted the Communications Decency Act as "clearly a violation of free speech and .. a violation of the right of adults to communicate with each other." Unfortunately, not everyone is so deter- mined to protect that right. Corporations have been sued by former employees fired for statements they made in e-mail they mistakenly thought was private. Many com- panies maintain that they have a right to read all e-mail between employees - even per- sonal messages. Once-private e-mail has been used in lawsuits alleging employment discrimination and harassment. What's dou- bly troubling in many of these cases is the employer's failure to inform computer users their e-mailbox may be pried open without their consent. Law has failed to keep up with technol- ogy, leaving vast discretion to companies on whether they can access their employees' personal communications. Company policy tends to err on the side ofthe corporate "right to know." Despite lawmakers' attempts to meddle in the Internet, the global computer network remains an information frontier free ofinter- ference. That's how it should be. With other media outlets pulled one by one under a widening corporate umbrella, the Internet may be the last great media democracy, with information rights for all. The University, thankfully, recognizes the democratic balance between community and individual rights. E-mail here is closely guarded, but even so, lawsuits can be used to force disclosure of supposedly confidential messages. Depending on how the law is interpreted, even the Freedom of Informa- tion Act someday may be used to make e- mail public. Former Provost Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr. defined the University's policy on e-mail confidentiality in 1993, pledging that the University would uphold privacy "to the fullest extent permitted by law." That means either the sender or receiver of an e- mail message may use or forward that mes- sage as they please. Other parties - a boss or law-enforcement agent, for example -- may "ordinarily" gain access to e-mail through the sender or recipient, according to University policy. That policy isn't exactly watertight, even if its attempts to leave the University some wiggle room in extraordi- nary circumstances are understandable. So far the University hasn't needed it. University policy makers acknowledge they may be swimming against a legislative current chipping away at both privacy and the free flow of information on the Internet. If this ominous trend continues, the govern- ment and corporations -not Mickey Mouse - may become the biggest media demons of all. - James M. Nash can be reached over e- mail atjnash@umich.edu. J.M LASSER SHARP AS TOAST yy '1 a .a w V.1 INA'1S9 R N 1 ''"-. r - i _... r r S3 I E -. 'I NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'Rabin was looking to the future. He was looking out for us, the younger generation. They killed him. They killed my hope.' - Amir Shavir, an 18- year-old from Tel Aviv I ILI I ./ ! -I *& 4L- zpw-'- LETTERS Right to life includes the right to die To the Daily: I applaud your resolve in the editorial calling for assisted sui- cide to be both legalized and regu- lated ("Death with dignity," I 1/ 3/95). You clearly presented both practical and moral reasons about why the right to life includes the right to end it. As a future physi- cian, I agree the duties of a physi- cian include both saving lives and easing the suffering of the ill. If and when these duties come into conflict, I believe it is rash to always blindly choose the former over the latter. Obviously life is important; however, suffering will define the rest of one's life. Unfortunately, the clear pic- ture the editorial portrays is grossly deformed by the media and figures such as Dr. Jack Kevorkian. By referring to cases of assisted suicide by using terms such as "machine," "killer" or "choking to death," the media continue to distort the practical and moral basis of assisted sui- cide and confuse public citizens. The ambiguity and confusion cre- ated allow lawmakers in Lansing and Washington to retain the sta- tus quo and ignore proposals that would legalize assisted suicide. The image of Jack Kevorkian en- tering people's houses, perform- ing the procedure and then van- ishing off into the night also does ran hn hner--entinat theis, complexity is the last thing we need. The time is now to clear up a simple, but immensely impor- tant. issue that continues to be debated. Anand Parekh Inteflex sophomore D.C. march underc ounted To the Daily: It is interesting that many newspapers and television publi- cations (including the Daily) printed the Washington, D.C.. park services estimate ofthe Mil- lion Man March without check- ing it forthemselves. ABC World News Tonight reported that they commissioned an independent source (a professor of population studies at Boston College) to do a computerized head count of the Million Man March. The expert interviewed said first of all the government took the photos from the worst possible angle (from a helicopter flying behind the Capi- tol building) blocking many of the marchers from view, but us- ing the same photos the park ser- vice did, he literally perfromed a computerized head count of the people pictured in the photo- graphs. His estimate of the num- ber of participants was that there could have been no more than 1,120,000 and no less than 675,000, his best estimate being 875,000 particiapnts photo- graphed in the pictures taken. In all cases the numbers are farmore than the government estimates of. Support Detroit paper strike To the Daily: The nation's two largest news- paper chains are waging war on their workers, and you must de- cide whose side you are on. You can't pretend the Detroit newspa- per strike doesn't concern you. Whether you like it or not, you are involved. Gannett and Knight-Ridder, owners of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, already have lost more than $50 million trying to break six unions. They could have settled with the 2,500 striking workers for a fraction of that cost. What the companies want is a victory in Detroit, the labor capital of America, that will send a message to working people everywhere. If the newspaper unions lose in Detroit, it will mean papers everywhere will pay lower wages and produce poorer products. And employers in other industries will be more willing to bust unions, leading to depressed wages and poorer working conditions nation- wide. The University of Michigan is among the institutions watch- ing the Detroit newspaper strike closely. Whatever career you en- vision, whether in a unionized industry or not, your working conditions and wages will suffer if unions are weakened. Because The News and Free Press have continued to publish since the strike began July 13 and have refused to bargain fairly, the strikers' hone for a victory rests know how many millions they are prepared to squander, but we must keep raising the cost until it becomes intolerable. To do so, we need help. The next few weeks are cru- cial. November is the biggest month of the year for newspaper advertising revenue. We need to double efforts to keep advertisers out of the paper. Don't think you can sit on the sidelines. You're already in- volved. If you but a copy of the Detroit Free Press or The Detroit News, you're contributing to a company that's willing to kill people to get its scab papers de- livered. Asked during a radio in- terview who gave the order to run trucks through plan gates at strik- ing workers, News Publisher Robert H. Giles answered: "The expectation was that they would get out of the way." If you shop at the stores that are advertising in The News and Free Press - including ABC Warehouse, Kmart, Hudson's, Mervyn's, Target, Art Van you are patronizing businesses that are helping Gannett and Knight-Ridderwage war on 2,500 families. Merchants who sell the pa- pers also are collaborating in the scab papers' success. They in- clude Border's and almost all the major bookstores as well as many party stores. Students must bring more pressure to get scab papers- out of the campus area. -. . - - . HOW TO CONTACT THEM Ann Arbor Mayor and City Council: Mayor Ingrid B. Sheldon Ann Arbor City Hall 100 N. Fifth Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48107 994-2766 Tobi Hanna-Davies (D-1st Ward), Patricia Vereen-Dixon (D-1st Ward), Peter Fink (R-2nd Ward), Jane Lumm (R-2nd Ward), Jean Carlberg (D-3rd Ward), Haldon Smith (D-3rd Ward), Peter Nicolas (1-4th Ward), Stephen Hartwell (D-4th Ward), Elisabeth Daley (D- R