home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!olivea!sgigate!sgi!wdl1!wdl39!mab
- From: mab@wdl39.wdl.loral.com (Mark A Biggar)
- Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
- Subject: Re: legal question re anonymity online
- Message-ID: <1993Jan11.191353.547@wdl.loral.com>
- Date: 11 Jan 93 19:13:53 GMT
- References: <C0KIMB.HIv@world.std.com> <BZS.93Jan8234039@world.std.com> <C0M7Fv.9sA@world.std.com>
- Sender: news@wdl.loral.com
- Organization: Loral Western Development Labs
- Lines: 24
-
- In article <C0M7Fv.9sA@world.std.com> mkj@world.std.com (Mahatma Kane-Jeeves) writes:
- >Yes (I couldn't resist :). Well, actually I don't know, but isn't
- >it true in general that a merchant who sells sexually explicit
- >material, or any other prohibited material (such as cigarettes), to
- >a minor is liable, even if the minor misrepresents him/herself? I
- >remember that back in my youth, I had arguments with a number of
- >liquor store owners who thought my ID was false (it wasn't, I just
- >looked young, which made me a little testy). They were universally
- >convinced that if I was underage, and they sold me liquor, they
- >would be in trouble. Based largely on those experiences, I've
- >always been under the impression that the burden is on the merchant
- >to be certain that a sale is legal, period. I could be wrong
- >(liquor store owners are not generally recognized as reliable legal
- >authorities), but I might be right.
-
- There is legal precident the other way for missrepresentation of age.
- The most notorious case is the Errol Flynn Statuatory Rape Case in which
- he got off by proving that the girl (and her companions) lied before
- witnesses that she was over age and the court decided that Flynn had no duty
- to inquire further. This is where the phrase "In like Flynn" comes from.
-
- --
- Mark Biggar
- mab@wdl1.wdl.loral.com
-