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Path: utzoo!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: net.micro,net.legal
Subject: Re: California law and Bulletin Board Computers
Message-ID: <239@looking.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Mar-85 00:00:00 EST
Article-I.D.: looking.239
Posted: Sat Mar  2 00:00:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Mar-85 04:31:54 EST
References: <2723@sdcc3.UUCP>
Organization: Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont
Lines: 22
Xref: watmath net.micro:9558 net.legal:1478

Will this law change much, in particular wrt cases like Mog-ur.  It's
saying that an electronic communication system is little different from
a printing system, and that the same rights and restrictions apply.

Magazines aren't allowed to solicit and print phone credit numbers from
anonymous sources.   The same rules will now surely apply to a BBS.

Privately owned data systems will be allowed to censor, control and limit
the data transferred through them as much as desired, in the same way that
magazines need only print what they agree with in the letters column if
they like.

If anything, this makes running an underground BBS even more illegal.
LA's case against MOG-UR was not BBS related.  If a magazine existed that
printed anything submitted by any anonymous submitter, and those submitters
posted illegal things like credit card #s and libel, you can bet the magazine
would be sued.

The other provisions in the law are excellent, in that they limit the power
of government.  But don't think this protects a BBS.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473