We, the undersigned, are writing to call your attention to the abuses, not merely of the net, but of the rights of his fellow net residents, by Fred Cherry, and ask that you in no way facilitate the commission of further abuses, by this man. We recognise and respect the right of each poster to argue what he or she believes, even if we should find it absurd or offensive, and we commend any ISP which stands up for its subscribers' rights in this area, for its integrity and resolve. But Mr. Cherry has exceeded his rights on numerous occasions, and gone beyond the mere argument of a position, or expression of a sentiment.

Mr. Cherry has responded to honest arguments against the positions that he has seeked to advance, and expressions of dismay at the bigotry that he has displayed against those whose sexual orientations he disapproves of, with campaigns of libel, and character assassination, taken to an unlawful degree. He has, without any justification in fact, alleged that those who have disagreed with him, are homosexual pedophiles and members or supporters of NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association, even when the targets of his libel have been quite outspoken in their opposition to this organization. Those who actually are gay, are being harassed by this, as Fred encourages others to heap scorn on them, for that which is noone's business, save their own. Those who are not, are so wrongly labled, in a society that rarely even pays lip service to the concept of tolerance, much less acceptance, of lifestyles differing from those layed out by the traditional norm, and may consequently find themselves subjected to discrimimation in employment and housing, prejudice in their social dealings, and loss of business - all of which, when resulting from the reckless or knowing statement of an untruth, reflect the presence of actionable torts, and are unacceptable, in any even marginally civilised setting.

In arguing that his opponents are pedophiles, in response to any dispute over the validity of one of his arguments, and that they have supported NAMBLA, when they have not, Mr. Cherry engages in libel, which is expressly excluded from protection under the first amendment to the constitution of the United states, Mr. Cherry's country of residence, is an actionable tort in all 50 of its states, and is a criminal act in much of that country. Aside from the issues of law, there are issues of justice that arise as a result of this act.

Were Mr. Cherry to wish to continue arguing, without libeling someone in this fashion, we would passionately defend his right to play the fool, in every post he made. But freedom of expression also requires that one have control over what it is that people imagine that one has expressed. If another is by circumstance granted the power to create the illusion that one said something that one did not, that undermines the freedom to communicate what one's thoughts are, every bit as if the transmission of what it is that actually was said, were to be obstructed. By granting himself the freedom to put words in the mouths of others, Mr. Cherry has undermined our freedom of expression, and he doesn't have our permission to do so.

Enough is enough. We, the undersigned, request that that those who would give Mr. Cherry access to the net, take appropriate action to insure that the abuses described above, see no repetition in the future.

Signed, beginning on this 9th day of April, 1998 CE, by those below.