This file originally named RUSTY3.TXT on EXEC-PC, renamed to RUSTY6.TXT, and annotated by me with comments on the original RUSTY3.TXT comments. Thanks and apologies to the original author, Henry Baker for tacitly allowing me this chance to "second guess" on the points he originally made. I was a subscriber for 3 months, cost $60, to Rusty and Edie's BBS, am a former Sysop for 2-1/2 years of the NorthEast Ohio PC Club BBS [1986-89], FidoNet 157/1, and was a charter member of the Cleveland- Akron Sysops Association (CASA) founded by Norm Henke of PC-OHIO. CASA was founded to promote the ethical use of BBS's in North East Ohio and is still active today. By the way, I have been a subscriber on EXEC-PC since, I think, 1985, and have seen Bob Mahoney,s BBS grow like roses in an Ohio garden since that time. I have the very highest respect for the job he does . . . it ain't easy, folks . . . real pro's just make it look that way, bearded or not ;-). The text that follows is Henry Baker's original with my comments in brackets: A few simple but, it seems to me, obvious points emerge from the Rusty and Edie mess: 1. Anyone clever enough to lure some 15,000 members in at $85 a pop ought to be clever enough to know it's illegal to distribute copyrighted software on a BBS ÄÄ whether from an upload directory or any other directory. And such a clever couple should also realize that with that many members roaming around their board for as long as they've been operating somebody sooner or later was going to blow the whistle on them. [Absolutely agree. The problem of receiving uploads of copyrighted material is, of course, not unique to R&E's. We used to receive the stuff from time to time and would immediately erase it and sent a nasty note to the uploader. Such uploads jeapordized not only the BBS itself, but free access to some really neat shareware and other home brewed programs by our other users.] 2. Their argument, as someone has mentioned, that they "can't screen every upload that comes to the board" doesn't wash. Exec-PC has far more members and indeed does get an occasional upload of copyrighted software. But you'd better be on the board and get it when it hits the top of the list because you can bet your bottom dollar it won't be there for long. Fifteen thousand members at an annual subscription rate of $85 translates to an annual gross of about $1,275,000. With that kind of change they could easily have afforded to at least hire a high school kid to screen the uploads. The kid probably would have stolen any of it he wanted but that sort of petty larceny would have been far better for Rusty and Edie than the wholesale availability of such material to the entire board's membership. And it's highly unlikely they'd be in the trouble they're in now. [I am an Air Traffic Controller program nut and recently upgraded to version D of that program through normal channels. When I saw the file ATC.ZIP on the R&E BBS, I thought this might be a shareware version of the same and downloaded it to try it out. It was a copy of the new commercial version D. I sent a message to the R&E Sysops informing them that this was a commercial program. I got a brief "Thanks." and the program disappeared from the BBS only to return a few weeks later.] 3. And, assuming this couple isn't really as dim-witted as they appear (and I think we must assume that), they could have done the one thing that would have insured that copyrighted material never ever became available for download: Just have all uploads sent to a non-public directory and place them on the board only after they'd been screened (and most likely copied) by the high school kid. [Agree.] 4. I think any jury would have to conclude that the possibility of downloading some pricey commercial programs would provide a real incentive for paying $85 to join a BBS and that Rusty and Edie knew this and allowed it to become an unspoken plus of membership on the board. [When I originally signed up, I asked to use my real name and they said that was not possible. They insisted on my using a handle and then mailed me a post card with my password. I did not want to use a handle, but that was the rule on their board. They said it was to protect against the use of passwords by others who might recognize the real name and therefore be able to crack the password. They also said that the password had to be alpha only. No !@#$%& symbols were allowed in the password. My password generator uses a lot of those symbols. Always wondered about this.] And while they may not have profited directly from the exchange of copyrighted material, they surely benefited from any memberships they gained because of it. [And lots of commercial authors lost revenue by having their copyrighted programs distributed without permission.] It would be hard to speculate on just how many members joined primarily for this reason, since it seems to me their main draw was a lot of adult files. But who knows ÄÄ maybe the commercial stuff was really a major factor. 5. While Rusty and Edie must be a clever couple, you'd have to conclude that they were pretty silly in at least one area: You've got to be dirt dumb to screw up a sweet deal like they had over a few hot games. ÄÄ Henry Baker Bracketed comments by Phil Ardussi, CIS 76304,2444, 03/06/93, thanks Henry.