Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!gatech!purdue!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!ukc!stc!datlog!slxsys!jpp
From: jpp@slxsys.specialix.co.uk (John Pettitt)
Newsgroups: news.misc,uk.general
Subject: Public Access Systems and USENET
Message-ID: <173@slxsys.specialix.co.uk>
Date: 6 Jun 88 09:06:00 GMT
Reply-To: jpp@slxsys.specialix.co.uk (John Pettitt)
Organization: Specialix International, London, UK.
Lines: 39


Following the much discussed JJ posting(s) I have been 
asked by our managment (I include myself as managment)
to look into the legal aspects of USENET and uknet.

slxsys is a the main news/mail server for Specialix 
International,  as a service to the community we
allow some of our spare modem bandwidth to be used
for news/mail feeds.   Two of the sites we feed are
public access systems (The IBM PC Users Group - ibmpcug.uucp
- and Compulink - cix.uucp).  

My questions are as follows;

1) Is Specialix in any way liable for messages passed through
slxsys from other sites ?

2) Does the international nature to USENET make Specialix 
a potential target for litigation from outside the UK ?

If the answer to either of the above is yes then we would probably
have to pull the plug on news feeds or ask the sites below us
to sign some form of contract absolving us, if such a contract
could be draw up.

I am especialy looking for replys from a) the backbone
and b) admins of public access systems.    

Please Please DON'T follow up, I will post a summary some
time in the week of 13th June.

John Pettitt
Technical Director
Specialix International 
-- 
John Pettitt, Specialix, Giggs Hill Rd, Thames Ditton, Surrey, U.K., KT7 0TR
{backbone}!mcvax!ukc!pyrltd!slxsys!jpp            jpp@slxsys.specialix.co.uk
Tel: +44-1-398-9422       Fax: +44-1-398-7122         Telex: 918110 SPECIX G
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