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From: bogstad@brl-smoke.ARPA (William Bogstad )
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: Re: Congress is now debating the future of Usenet (really privacy)
Message-ID: <3310@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 26-Aug-86 00:43:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-smok.3310
Posted: Tue Aug 26 00:43:37 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Aug-86 20:50:09 EDT
References: <1632@well.UUCP> <1013@hoptoad.uucp> <15341@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: bogstad@brl.arpa (William Bogstad (JHU|mike) <bogstad>)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 37

In article <15406@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> desj@brahms.UUCP (David desJardins) writes:
>In article <877@gilbbs.UUCP> mc68020@gilbbs.UUCP (Thomas J Keller) writes:
[edited]
>and forwarding the message to machine bar.  I see no moral or legal reason
>why any Usenet site should have any responsibility whatsoever to the
>individual who happened to originate the text of a particular message at
>a site with which they have no interaction whatsoever, under either existing
>or proposed law.  A site's only responsibility is and should be to the sites
>to which it sends and from which it receives.

	I don't know what the current legal responsibilities are on
USENET (i.e. uucp mail), and I am not sure what they will be if the
suggested legislation is enacted.  However, I do think that there are
some moral responsiblities.

	If you as a site administrator want to discard any mail that is
not directly addressed to people on your site or based on any other
criteria, I would have to accept that as being your moral right.  Uucp
mail has always been based on a system where service is provided in
whatever quality and quantity the site felt it could provide.  I am
not aware of anyone being required to provide a certain level of service
in order to become a member of USENET.  Hopefully, your uucp map entry
accurately describes the service you will attempt to provide so that
others do not depend on you based on faulty information.  I do think,
however, that you have a moral responsibility to keep other people's
mail private.  Discard it if you must, but please don't publish it.

[A similiar discussion on reading other's mail occurred just a short
time ago here and in net.news, so maybe we should just let this subtopic
go and make sure that the "correct" legal responsibilities are enacted.
"Correct", of course, not having yet been determined and unless you get
involved might not turn out the way you think it should, i.e. you may
become responsible for uucp mail's delivery.]

				Bill Bogstad
				bogstad@hopkins-eecs-bravo.arpa
				bogstad@brl-smoke.arpa