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
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Reply-To: spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
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Organization: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
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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