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From: mark@clout.Jhereg.MN.ORG (Mark H. Colburn)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: FCC?  U.S.Mail.? (Re: JJ's Revenge -- Part II)
Message-ID: <273@clout.Jhereg.MN.ORG>
Date: 13 Jun 88 18:44:05 GMT
References: <33@uisc1.UUCP> <3132@edm.UUCP> <75@uisc1.UUCP>
Reply-To: mark@clout.Jhereg.MN.ORG (Mark H. Colburn)
Organization: House Jhereg, Streamwood, IL
Lines: 63

In article <75@uisc1.UUCP> root@uisc1.UUCP (Super user) writes:
>In article <3132@edm.UUCP>, steve@edm.UUCP (Stephen Samuel) writes:
>> 
>> I think, however, that it is useful to stomp on people that do things like
>> what JJ did, before the FCC decides to regulate things pre-emptively.
 
>What I am reading here is that we should "stomp" on someone like JJ, who
>has not done anything illegal (any proof to the contrary - not emotional
>claptrap but hard statute or binding precedent - would be welcomed)

Not too long ago there was a similar case of an individual which ran
an ad in the paper which read something like JJ's message.  Basically
the gist of it was that you should send him a dollar just 'cause he
was a nice guy.

There were no promises of services, no advertisment of products, etc.
Just a plea for cash.

This individual was stopped by the post office for mail fraud.  I
don't beleive that they ever sued, but they did make him stop running
his add, which netted him a fair amount of money.

At this particular time, I can not remeber the case, but it was
publicized a great deal.

The precedent for this is that "chain letters" are illegal.  If you
think about it, given a standard chain letter where no money is
involved, there is no reason why it should be illegal.  It does not
represent a hazard to anybody's morals, or hurt anybody.  Directly.
However, it does tie up the post office, thereby slowing everybodies
mail down.  

If you think about the chain letter concept, it is possible for a
chain letter to literally stop all mail from flowing through the
system after only several inerations.  Remember that chain letters 
multiply exponentially.  

Imagine that you sent a letter to 5 friends, and they sent it to five 
friends, etc.  After about only a few itterations there are litterally 
millions of letters in the post office, asking for yet more letters to 
be written.  

Think about what this would do to the mail service in your area.  
Would you like it?

(By the way, chain letters that involve money are a different ball of
wax altogether.  There is somebody out there getting rich, and
somebody is being soaked, but they don't know it.  This, therefore, is
mail fraud.)

What JJ did was not illegal according to his rights to express
himself, but it is illegal according to laws which were developed to 
allow mail to flow throughout the world with as little problems as 
possible.

Although the chain-letter law does impose a "limit" on our freedom of
expression, it is not a limit which people going about normal
day-to-day business are going to find bothersome, and in the long run, 
it helps us all.
-- 
Mark H. Colburn           mark@jhereg.chi.il.us
			  mark@jhereg.mn.org
                          ..!chinet!jhereg!mark