Xref: utzoo news.admin:7841 misc.legal:12522 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!ateng!chip From: chip@ateng.com (Chip Salzenberg) Newsgroups: news.admin,misc.legal Subject: Re: Usenet and legal liability Message-ID: <257455C2.3101@ateng.com> Date: 29 Nov 89 22:18:38 GMT References: <25683CAB.25106@ateng.com> <10771@max.u.washington.edu> <256C5DB1.683@ateng.com> <10988@max.u.washington.edu> Organization: A T Engineering, Tampa, FL Lines: 43 According to wcn@max.u.washington.edu (W C Newell Jr): >If a publisher is explicitly identified, then the distribution agent is >protected from liability. Conversely, if no publisher is identified, the >distributor assumes legal responsibility for publication. Usenet articles do have identified publishers: the authors. (Remember, the legal definition of publishing only means "informing a third party".) A forged article does not _correctly_ identify the publisher, but that's unimportant to the Enquirer-Supermarket defense. >If the exact same article appears at sites A, B and C, then some transport >agent was used to distribute it. One can presume that this is true. However: >> Certainly no one at my site is filtering anything, at least not on an >> article level. > >Get real. LOTS of sites filter at the group level, for a variety of reasons. Of course. Read more carefully: No one filters at the _article_ level. As we are all so well aware, newsgroup name and article content are related only in the most peripheral and indirect way. Therefore, article content is not controlled by transmitting sites' choice of newsgroups. QED. >> If an employer articulates policies and procedures for the regulation of >> employee behavior in a certain area, then that employer has arguably assumed >> responsibility for behavior in that area. Case precedent has in many >> instances started with such voluntarily accepted responsiblity and imputed >> legal liability. > >Get seriously real. I already did. If you don't believe me, that's your problem. >Things would improve considerably if there was a distinction between "edu" >and "non-edu" distributions. I agree, though certainly for reasons different from yours. -- You may redistribute this article only to those who may freely do likewise. Chip Salzenberg at A T Engineering; or "The Usenet, in a very real sense, does not exist." Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com