Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP 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)