WIX Archives

Re: Alias, pro or con

Posted by john parker on Wed Jul 09, 2003 06:27:13 PM

In reply top Alias, pro posted by Joe Scheil on Wed Jul 09, 2003 10:44:32 AM

:
: The previous post regarding the PNG news was posted by som
: eone using an "untraceable", "unverifyable" handle. So wh
: at. The purpose of the message board is to spread news to
: the community, and at times the news may come from a sens
: itive source. While the scavenging and removal of wrecks
: from PNG or other places may be illegal, I do not bvelieve
: that the country concerned has done enough over the last
: few years to preserve the history. If someone is on the i
: nside, and trying to get information out, who are we to ju
: dge his or her motives? Let the information, or disinform
: ation flow, thats part of the fun. Poaching, rangerunning
: and sneaking around alow me to live some of the vicarious
: thrill that these modern Indiana Jones types live. I kno
: w that we don't want to poach or remove war graves, but im
: agine a lot of Hornet and Brigand wings and fuselages, (en
: gines too...)crated in a lot in Timor...can't legally remo
: ve them, but for a small fee, and some late night work put
: ting stuff on the docks... Hapag Lloyd to Southhampton in
: 3 weeks.! Oh to dream!
:
: Allow aliases! Caveat emptor

Hi Joe

Thanks for the post. I actually agree with what you say in parts, however a couple of points

1) There is no such thing as an "untraceable", "unverifyable" handle - trust me I run a very large whole of government network and nobody can hide if a someone really comes after you - thats how they catch hackers every day - employ kids just as smart as the best "on the dark side"

2) I have posted on PNG before and I understand the emotive issues here but the law is the law and breaking it is not trivial. People doing the right thing get involved when cowboys stuff it up for everybody - thats part of the reason the military and government take action against reasonable recovery efforts in other parts of the world.

To be consistant on this I agree there will be times when things are a little cloudy on ownership, permits etc and sometimes things will go a little "grey" but at the end of the day getting the end result does not justify any means - getting one bent P39 or whatever will not be seen as a great feat if swamp ghost and a hundred other wrecks are scrapped as a result.

3) The thing that really gets me upset on this one is that the AWM was used as a cover in this case. I don't always agree with everything they do but this is a VERY ethical organisation and to see their name dragged into this is really appalling - they have done great work in PNG and the pacific and this kind of rubbish could really bugger up their relationships.

Again just my opinions and I love the fact that I and all of us WIXers can have them openly.

Regards to all

John Parker
Aussie

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