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http://www.hotwired.com/Piazza/Threads/technopolitics.html (The Risc Disc Volume 2, 10/1995)

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The reason the first amendment to the United States Constitution is the first amendment is that freedom of communication is the foundation for all other freedoms. But "speech" in 1776 meant town hall meetings and printed pamphlets. Nowadays, the rights of citizens to communicate with each other, uncensored and unmediated, is the best hope for breathing some new life into old democratic institutions. For this reason, our best hope is to stay alert and knowledgeable about legislation related to telecommunications policy -- the liberties we preserve might be our own.