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From: jacob@chalmers.UUCP (Jacob Hallen)
Newsgroups: net.news,net.politics,net.legal
Subject: Re: Towards making hosts and their admin free from a criminal offence
Message-ID: <597@chalmers.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Jun-86 05:51:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: chalmers.597
Posted: Fri Jun  6 05:51:43 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 9-Jun-86 00:56:34 EDT
References: <611@bu-cs.UUCP> <164@comp.lancs.ac.uk> <20663@styx.UUCP> <1259@mulga.OZ> <2026@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU> <880@frog.UUCP>
Reply-To: jacob@chalmers.UUCP (Jacob Hallen)
Distribution: net
Organization: Dept. of CS, Chalmers, Sweden
Lines: 17
Xref: watmath net.news:4973 net.politics:16701 net.legal:3561

In article <880@frog.UUCP> john@frog.UUCP writes:
>
>As a practical matter, it cannot be illegal in some other country for me to
>sit here in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA and say something distasteful to
>a foreign lawmaker.  

If you say it on the net you are in fact publishing your statement in every
country that the net is distributed to. You have to take the consequences
of any illegalities in your statement, the consequeces being a risk of
being taken to court when you visit a country that has a law against
public display of the opinions in your statement.

Also, you are the only one who can be held responsible. To hold a host
responsible would be as absurd as to hold US Mail responsible if you sent
your statement by ordinary mail.

Jacob Hallen