Subject: Re: MNS and Justice Dept. From: dwhite@april.iii.net (Donovan White) Date: Sun, 11 Jun 1995 20:50:58 -0400

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"S. Finer"  said:

>Prodigy failed in court BECAUSE they did exercise editorial 
>control.....if they operated as an ISP, they would not have been held 
>accountable.  Note how Steve Outings keeps this an unmoderated list....by 
>doing so, he limits his liability, because he is not operating as an 
>editor.  If he were operating so, then his liability rises considerably.

One of the things I'm suggesting is that there is no safe harbor here. Even
this _unmoderated_ list has some measure of oversight exercised by the
listmaster. That being the case, Steve is probably a likely target for some
poor, flame-charred commercial entity. It wouldn't be necessary for
Microsoft to win a case against Steve to make his life miserable for a year
or so, after the company finds out what Rex has been saying about them.
(Sorry, Steve, but Rex was the one who said it all.)

Also, when it comes to pornography, all you have to do to get into trouble
as a plain and simple ISP is to host one of the alt.binaries news groups. 

You can't escape litigation and the accompanying expense merely by doing
nothing and saying that someone else posted the offending material. Just to
carry it or sponsor is sufficient to make you a target of the sitting duck
variety.

dw

        Donovan White

        Online Information Development and Design

        dwhite@iii.net           DonovanWhite@ichange.com

        (508) 597-5321           (508) 597-3285


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