Libertarian, or Just Bizarro? Misc.4/25/2001; 12:48:06 PM 'What if you could take all the haters and the perverts and the spammers and stick them on their own private Internet?'That way, they could do whatever they want without bothering the rest of us, and we wouldn't have to spend our money or time regulating them.'If it sounds too simple, it probably is.'Bah. This isn't worthy of top billing on Wired.com. The most telling quote:'Though the idea may have appeal among some of the special-interest groups above as well as Web anarchists and dyed-in-the-wool libertarians, nobody seems clear on what exactly splinternets are, how they would work, or what Crews is really talking about.'Nobody, including the reporter, it seems; see Update below.Proposals of this nature go beyond "the devil is in the details"... there's nothing but details. Vague promises and claims are utterly useless; only practical proposals that can be analysed are useful. Put simply, without details the proposal is on par with a proposal that we be able to deliver pizzas over the phone line; easy to propose, but pure nonsense in the real world. Without more specificity, it's just beating at air.Until he spends a bit more time thinking about the non-existant idea(s) he is so busily proselytizing, Crew belongs firmly in the catagory of "bizzaro".'Indeed, "the exclusion of others" seems to be the most prominent thread in Crews' vision, not the politics of ownership or regulation....' '"Do people really want to be connected to everyone? I don't think so." Crews said. "Fundamentally, people want to be connected to other people like them."'*shudder* That's the wrong point of view... people don't so much seek out the company of people like them as avoid the company of people they don't like... which may or may not be "people unlike them". There's no need to break off and form your own net... just find somewhere you like and stay there! Most people already do this. Except for perhaps isolating children, this proposal solves a problem that doesn't really exist, and institutes a form of isolationism that could cause trouble later.