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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!floyd!harpo!decvax!cwruecmp!atvax!ncoast!bsafw
From: bsafw@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.micro
Subject: Re: Computer Bulletin Boards Must Be Confiscated!
Message-ID: <90@ncoast.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Jun-84 17:05:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: ncoast.90
Posted: Sat Jun  2 17:05:38 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 5-Jun-84 20:05:53 EDT
References: <171@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Organization: North Coast XENIX, Cleveland
Lines: 33


	I am in the process of developing a general BBS system running on our
Unix system.  I certainly don't want to have THIS system confiscated!

	The problem is that I can only access this system dialup, and that not
too often due to usage.  If someone posts something offensive, it may be a few
days before I catch it.  Likewise for system passwords, "Calling Cards", et
cetera.  Should this system be confiscated if I can't get to the reference and
kill it before Ameritech (local Bell) catches it and gets our system confis-
cated?  Especially as a major local company depends on the system?

	I don't know if the situation would be considered differently for an
(almost-) mainframe or not, but the Model 16 I'm using is essentially a desktop
system, and might therefore be covered by the precedent set up by this issue.
So I (and the superuser) have an interest in coming up with an alternative to
straight confiscation, such as forcing the board offline temporarily until a
hearing can be arranged (in this case, the BBS would be deactivated, so the
corporate users could continue using the system remotely).  Don't conclude that
confiscation is the way to insure you have the evidence.  (If it's a computer
offense, there should be someone involved who understands computers, anyway --
in which case, confiscation of the floppies containing the message(s) (backups
on here) would suffice.)

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

						Brandon Allbery
						decvax!cwruecmp!ncoast!bsafw
"...he himself being one universe's prime	MCI MAIL: 161-7070
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