Xref: utzoo misc.legal:26246 comp.org.eff.talk:2414 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!linac!sunova!ornl!utkcs2!!brown From: brown@cs.utk.edu (Lance A. Brown) Newsgroups: misc.legal,comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: sysop liability/responsibility Message-ID: Date: 20 May 91 16:50:25 GMT Article-I.D.: duncan.BROWN.91May20115025 References: <1991May20.051224.16358@gn.ecn.purdue.edu> <1991May20.130200.11894@unlinfo.unl.edu> Sender: usenet@cs.utk.edu (USENET News Poster) Distribution: usa Organization: University of Tenn., Knoxville, Dept. of Computer Science Lines: 17 In-Reply-To: riddle@hoss.unl.edu's message of 20 May 91 13:02:00 GMT I do not know if this applies, but there was some (IMHO) really slimey tactics being used in the Knoxville area by some government agent a couple months ago. This guy somehow managed to get a-hold of passwords for some users on the largest local BBS's. He used these accounts to upload commercial software and then waited to see what happened. If the sysop removed the software then nothing happened, but if the sysop appeared to not do anything about it this agent would come forward and warn the sysop about his behavior and threaten legal action. This happened on at least 4 BBS systems that I know of, and was relayed to me by the sysop of one of the boards so I KNOW it happened. I find this kind of behavior reprehensible, and what I would call entrapment. The fact that this agent had somehow stolen passwords also makes me angry. Lance -- brown@cs.utk.edu Lance A. Brown The Crystal Wind is the Storm, 3500 Sutherland Avenue, Apt. L-303 and the Storm is Data, Knoxville, TN 37919 and the Data is Life -- The Player's Litany from _The Long Run_ by D.K. Moran