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- Newsgroups: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk
- Path: sparky!uunet!destroyer!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!eff!eff-gate!usenet
- From: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie)
- Subject: [news.admin.policy] Re: Groups used to distribute illegal material
- Message-ID: <9208132142.AA03056@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu>
- Originator: daemon@eff.org
- Sender: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: eff.org
- Organization: EFF mail-news gateway
- Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 11:42:18 GMT
- Approved: usenet@eff.org
- Lines: 46
-
-
- Newsgroups: news.admin.policy
- From: viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson)
- Subject: Re: Groups used to distribute illegal material
- Message-ID: <viking.713740102@vincent1.iastate.edu>
- Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 21:08:22 GMT
-
- In <16ea7qINNg7u@network.ucsd.edu> brian@ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) writes:
-
- >I too am concerned about the content of some of the groups. It is not
- >the bandwidth or moral issues that are the problem, but that indeed
- >there are copyright violations taking place.
-
- >I believe that we who maintain the news software should be able to treat
- >the material passing through our sites as though we were solely a
- >carrier - much like the telephone system, UPS, and other common
- >carriers. In that manner, our site would not be liable for illegalities
- >committed by users of the system, since we do not assume to restrict
- >their posting content.
-
- >However, I do believe that anyone posting copyrighted material to the
- >net in violation of that copyright can, will, and should be liable to
- >the copyright owner. That's only fair.
-
- As I understand it from the debate here at Iowa State (for more
- information, send e-mail to me and I'll see about getting you on the
- mailing list of the Students for Electronic Freedom. The "leader" is
- Mike Begley, spam@iastate.edu, and he might be a better contact.),
- if you do not censor or restrict your newsfeed you stand a better chance
- of defending yourself because you are not taking it upon yourself to
- filter out the inappropriate stuff. Once you start restricting, then
- it follows that you are responsible for the content of what is on your
- news server.
-
- Personally, I've always felt it was the responsibility of the
- poster to make sure everything fits within copyright and obscenity
- laws, and that they should be the ones prosecuted if necessary. An
- article can be cancelled, so let the author stay responsible. Most
- news sites also pass their feed along to others, so there is a legit
- reason for viewing your site as just a carrier like the phone company.
-
- <Dan Sorenson, DoD #1066 |"There'll be angels on Ariels in leather>
- <z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu | and chrome, Ridin' down from heaven >
- <viking@iastate.edu | just to carry me home." -- R. Thompson >
- < ISU thinks I need more education, which they provide for a fee. >
-
-