Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!purdue!spaf From: spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Re: Who defines Net.Porn ? Message-ID: <4985@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> Date: 29 Sep 88 15:48:25 GMT References: <1278@cbnews.ATT.COM> <4805@whuts.UUCP> <3498@c3pe.UUCP> <2647@swlabs.UUCP> <12588@pollux.UUCP> Sender: news@cs.purdue.EDU Reply-To: spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford) Distribution: na Organization: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University Lines: 34 The problem here is not what is or isn't "net.porn" or whether a Usenet site (like uunet) is a common carrier or not. The problem is that if an over-zealous prosecutor wants to gain some publicity, any site could be targetted for prosecution, including (possibly) shutdown and confiscation. There is no legal precedent or legislative act (that I know of) that defines a Usenet site as a common carrier -- that would have to be established in a trial. Further, the loose interpretation of what "community standards" means should allow a case to be based on alt.sex contents (at least). The risk here is not in conviction. The risk is in the initial prosecution. Mounting a defense against a lawsuit like this could be very, very expensive. It could require years of appeal up through Federal courts. And during all that time, the system in question could be confiscated and kept from operation. Think about the effect that would have on the site in question and the Usenet in general. If you think this sounds unreal, then you aren't familiar with the US legal system or with the efforts made by some solicitors in election years. It's especially bad in some conservative areas of the country. To top it off, there are people like the Rev. Wildmon of Mississippi trying to provke such cases since the publicity helps them get further donations from the "faithful." We need to think ahead and do what we can to avoid such a situation, not argue the merits of a defense for *when* it happens, although that is probably a good idea, too. -- Gene Spafford NSF/Purdue/U of Florida Software Engineering Research Center, Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-2004 Internet: spaf@cs.purdue.edu uucp: ...!{decwrl,gatech,ucbvax}!purdue!spaf