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Path: utzoo!linus!vaxine!wjh12!genrad!decvax!ittvax!bunker!max
From: max@bunker.UUCP (Max Hyre)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Computer Bulletin Board Confiscated
Message-ID: <416@bunker.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Jun-84 11:02:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: bunker.416
Posted: Tue Jun  5 11:02:13 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 7-Jun-84 00:43:01 EDT
References: sri-arpa.188
Lines: 31

[ I have a warrant for this bug's arrest. ]


Background:  I'm not a lawyer, but I know one.  He tends to view things
     liberally (does a lot of ACLU work, etc.) and is up on the state
     of First Amendment law.  So I asked him about the BBS confiscation,
     expecting some response along the lines of "Don't worry, it'll be
     thrown out on appeal."  Guess again.

     The problem is that there is a good solid precedent for seizing the
property of innocent bystanders, and my source wasn't too encouraging about
it being limited to the field it's most used in:  narcotics.
     If you lend your car to a friend who proceeds to use it for a drug run
and gets caught, you're out one car for a long time, possibly forever.  To
get it back, you have to prove you are innocent, and then wait until the
auto's status as evidence has passed.  "But what about 'innocent until
proven guilty'?" you ask?  That applies only in criminal law--your attempt
to recover the car is a civil action!
     The question is now whether that law (I believe it's a Federal statute)
was written so as to limit its application to drug cases only, and my source
was pessimistic on that point (he was at home and couldn't look it up at the
time.)
     The upshot seems to be that we may be in trouble on this, and we should
probably start lobbying our respective state & national legislators to pass
laws protecting the Sysop in cases such as this (with an exception for
those who actively promote illegal activities?  I don't know.)  I'm gonna
write mine, and the ACM as well to get them thinking about this.  It's a
real can of worms, and the sooner we can get it settled, the better.

          Max Hyre
          (Somewhere in the vicinity of decvax!ittvax!bunker!max)