![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[Edited, now that I've cooled down *a little*]
One of my previously favorite pagan conferences (PantheaCon, to name and shame) is once again asking for the Legal Name of it's presenters!! I am so pissed off that I can barely type!! Who in the FUCK do they think they are, to demand that I expose MY name, MY security, and MY privacy in the current political climate for the dubious priviledge of volunteering to present for THEM??
I wonder how many times thay've been "sneak and peaked" by the "friendly" new Gestapo, yet they still want this kind of data?? I know they've already removed me from their mailing list because I won't use my real name (I still find out anyway - my roomie gets their stuff.)
It's bad enough that one of my former favorite science fiction conventions (BayCon, to name and shame) wants to slap your legal name and your city right on your badge (great for stalkers who meet you at cons), and demands fucking ID to pick up your badge, even if you paid cash on the spot!! What the fuck happened to the fannish respect for privacy, damnit!!!!!!!
Now, a Pagan Conference that should damn well KNOW BETTER wants the legal name and address of its Presenters.
Well, if the fucking chickenshit sheep among the pagan and fannish community want to play along with the "You don't need no stinkin' privacy" game, fine. You will be the easiest for the theocratic regime that's almost here to find, and stuff into John Ashcroft's camps. If those who want to present or attend at these events REFUSE TO PLAY ALONG with this fascist nonsense, they will have to change their horst wessel song.
I really don't care "why" they say they have to - it's all flimsy ass bullshit to disguise their nosiness and need to suck up and be seen as "responsible" the new Gestapo. Here are some of the excuses I've heard:
1) "emergency information" (if you wanted that, you'd ask for an emergency contact, not someone's "legal name" - and paramedics won't ask the organizers anyway - they'll look for ID, not some flimsy "badge"),
2) "in case of trouble" (any troublemakers are going to ditch their badges first, unless they're amateurs, who will get caught in the act anyway),
3) "insurance" or "hotel needs" (unless the hotel makes ALL guests, visitors, and staff wear nametags, it is functionally yellow star discrimination),
4) needed for business/tax purposes (anonymous transactions and donations are completely legal, and presenter volunteers are doing them a favor anyway) ,
5) "liability" (if I'm stalked or harassed because they required me to display my name and city of residence, I will sue THEM!).
I must now resign myself to not attending some of my favorite events, because the organizers have bought into the "identity papers" slave mentality. They were doing this shit before 9/11, so it has nothing to do with that. Besides, "identity" papers didn't stop the 9/11 highjackers, people.
I urge you all to boycott all fannish and/or pagan events that require that you provide the organizers with your "legal name". As long as you do not use it to defraud anyone, PSEUDONYMS ARE LEGAL, and should be respected. Don't make people who value their privacy have to chose between their privacy and the event.
One of my previously favorite pagan conferences (PantheaCon, to name and shame) is once again asking for the Legal Name of it's presenters!! I am so pissed off that I can barely type!! Who in the FUCK do they think they are, to demand that I expose MY name, MY security, and MY privacy in the current political climate for the dubious priviledge of volunteering to present for THEM??
I wonder how many times thay've been "sneak and peaked" by the "friendly" new Gestapo, yet they still want this kind of data?? I know they've already removed me from their mailing list because I won't use my real name (I still find out anyway - my roomie gets their stuff.)
It's bad enough that one of my former favorite science fiction conventions (BayCon, to name and shame) wants to slap your legal name and your city right on your badge (great for stalkers who meet you at cons), and demands fucking ID to pick up your badge, even if you paid cash on the spot!! What the fuck happened to the fannish respect for privacy, damnit!!!!!!!
Now, a Pagan Conference that should damn well KNOW BETTER wants the legal name and address of its Presenters.
Well, if the fucking chickenshit sheep among the pagan and fannish community want to play along with the "You don't need no stinkin' privacy" game, fine. You will be the easiest for the theocratic regime that's almost here to find, and stuff into John Ashcroft's camps. If those who want to present or attend at these events REFUSE TO PLAY ALONG with this fascist nonsense, they will have to change their horst wessel song.
I really don't care "why" they say they have to - it's all flimsy ass bullshit to disguise their nosiness and need to suck up and be seen as "responsible" the new Gestapo. Here are some of the excuses I've heard:
1) "emergency information" (if you wanted that, you'd ask for an emergency contact, not someone's "legal name" - and paramedics won't ask the organizers anyway - they'll look for ID, not some flimsy "badge"),
2) "in case of trouble" (any troublemakers are going to ditch their badges first, unless they're amateurs, who will get caught in the act anyway),
3) "insurance" or "hotel needs" (unless the hotel makes ALL guests, visitors, and staff wear nametags, it is functionally yellow star discrimination),
4) needed for business/tax purposes (anonymous transactions and donations are completely legal, and presenter volunteers are doing them a favor anyway) ,
5) "liability" (if I'm stalked or harassed because they required me to display my name and city of residence, I will sue THEM!).
I must now resign myself to not attending some of my favorite events, because the organizers have bought into the "identity papers" slave mentality. They were doing this shit before 9/11, so it has nothing to do with that. Besides, "identity" papers didn't stop the 9/11 highjackers, people.
I urge you all to boycott all fannish and/or pagan events that require that you provide the organizers with your "legal name". As long as you do not use it to defraud anyone, PSEUDONYMS ARE LEGAL, and should be respected. Don't make people who value their privacy have to chose between their privacy and the event.
