Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site amdahl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!decwrl!amdahl!gam From: gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett) Newsgroups: net.news,net.legal Subject: Re: Freedom of speech and the net Message-ID: <517@amdahl.UUCP> Date: Thu, 15-Nov-84 15:18:53 EST Article-I.D.: amdahl.517 Posted: Thu Nov 15 15:18:53 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 17-Nov-84 04:49:13 EST References: <201@looking.UUCP> <7@cmu-cs-k.ARPA> <> <1842@nsc.UUCP> <475@amdahl.UUCP> Organization: Amdahl Corp, Sunnyvale CA Lines: 30 Xref: genrad net.news:2453 net.legal:1184 [ From a private correspondence ] > To the best of my knowledge there has never > been a test case concerning freedom of speech on anything like USENET, > and until there is, I don't see how anyone can state with certainty whether > such "silencing" is legal or not. OK, I relent and agree, we cannot answer this question now. My opinion is that corporations have the right control their employees' access to USENET as they can control any other computing resource. It is possible that public and semi-public USENET sites, especially universities and privately owned Unix systems (such as Proper Unix in Oakland) have constitutional protections on their USENET postings. However, as a practical matter, if the feeding site for Proper (intelca) felt that Proper users were generating undesirable articles then intelca could cut proper off, and so on up the line. So the protection of people's right to post (if any) would be difficult to enforce. I know if I owned a computer system attached to Usenet I would not want the government to force me to allow anyone to say anything they wanted with it. It is my property, I own it, and I should be the one to control it. (On the other hand, I wouldn't want my connection to the network severed because another site didn't like what I had to say). Constitutional issues like this are not simple matters, to be sure. -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,amd,nsc}!amdahl!gam 37 22'50" N / 122 59'12" W [ This is just me talking. ]