Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!cbosgd!osu-cis!apr!las From: las@apr.UUCP (Larry Shurr) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: please moderate moderately -> comp.binaries.ibm.pc Message-ID: <377@apr.UUCP> Date: 21 Dec 87 20:44:40 GMT References: <341@spl1.UUCP> <9132@sgi.SGI.COM> Reply-To: las@apr.UUCP (Larry Shurr) Organization: APR, Columbus, OH Lines: 101 In article <9132@sgi.SGI.COM> gsk@khaki writes: >i expect that Harry Skelton will render valuable service >as moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc; however his proposed >editorial policies seem excessively paranoid and cumbersome to me. > ...and i expect that >average turn-around time will be more like 2 months. >i'm skeptical that all this heavy-handed security will be effective, >anyway, since pirates can easily post pirated stuff to other >newsgroups, and anybody who wanted to could defeat Harry's >measures with little trouble. I'm not pleased about the security measures Harry is imposing on postings, but I understand them, indeed, I'm afraid I believe that they are a harbinger of things to come. The reason I say that relates to the reason for them. To whit: the measures are not for *our* protection as users of comp.binaries.ibm.pc so much as they are protection for: 1) Harry Skelton 2) Lachman Associates (I believe that's the correct corporate name) The incidence of trojan horses and pirates being what they are, the corporate entities which carry these networks may wish to avoid the litigation which may come at any moment: ========================================================================= Possible scenario 1: Plaintiff's attorney: Harry Skelton and Lachman Associates have infringed my client's copyrights by distributing unauthorized copies of {his | her | their} software, , using the electronic computer network popularly known as 'usenet' and have illegally etc. etc. etc... Lachman attorney: Mr. Skelton, at the behest of Lachman Associates, instituted procedures described in documents provided to the court for selecting, screening, and obtaining permission to distribute software which is protected by copyright or verifying that a given software package has been released to the public domain etc. etc. etc... Documents collected by Mr. Skelton and provided to the court show that a person using the name, , declared that said person was the legal copyright owner with full power to assign and grant various permis- sions etc. etc. etc... Etc. etc. etc... ad infinitum at $120/hour... Thus, the plaintiff, Mr. Skelton, and Lachman Associates are all the victims of a fraud perpetrated by etc. etc. etc... Having made a good faith effort to establish etc. etc. etc..., Mr. Skelton and Lachman Associates are free of any guilt, fraud, or culpible negligence related to the illegal distribution of software package known as etc. etc. etc... We therefore petition the court to dismiss the { charges | suit } etc. etc. etc... This is a much better legal position to be in then: Possible scenario 2: Plaintiff's attorney: Harry Skelton and Lachman Associates have... Lachman attorney: Gee Your Honor! Harry didn't know that the software was pirated. The guy who gave it to him said it was ok. We don't know who it was. When we tried to send mail to { him | her | them } recently, it bounced and we don't have a clue where to look now because { he | she | they } are pretty slick and can hack that net like anything. You just wouldn't believe it! Besides, Harry did it himself, the boss doesn't have time to check up on every little thing that's going on. It just didn't seem very important. ========================================================================= So I'm not Dosteoevsky, exxxxxccccccuuuuuuusssssseeeee me! ========================================================================= Seriously folks. This sort of thing could become common. On the other hand, maybe it won't. Instead companies, schools, people, whatever will just start dropping off of the net or severely restricting access. I hope that Harry's measures are unnecessarily restrictive, but I'm not too surprised that something like this has come to pass (can't say I had the forsight to anticipate this sort of thing though). regards, Larry -- "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." - Oscar Wilde, James Whistler or George Bernard Shaw depending on who you ask Name: Larry A. Shurr (cbosgd!osu-cis!apr!las or try {cbosgd,ihnp4}!cbcp1!las) Disclaimer: The above is not necessarily the opinion of APR or any APR client.