Xref: utzoo news.misc:1541 news.admin:2670 comp.misc:2624
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pacbell!att!mtunx!alberta!oha!access!edm!steve
From: steve@edm.UUCP (Stephen Samuel)
Newsgroups: news.misc,news.admin,comp.misc
Subject: Re: HELP ME (*Oh, what a flame for JJ@Portal*)
Message-ID: <3139@edm.UUCP>
Date: 16 Jun 88 08:52:16 GMT
References: <64@uisc1.UUCP>
Organization: Unexsys Systems, Edmonton,AB.
Lines: 45

From article <64@uisc1.UUCP>, by root@uisc1.UUCP (Super user):
> In article <1101@micomvax.UUCP>, ray@micomvax.UUCP (Ray Dunn) writes:
>> 
>> Why should we as a community, allow individual sites to profit from this
>> otherwise altruistic network while showing *no* control over how their
>> customers use it.
>> 
>> It would not seem unreasonable for an organisation profitting *directly*
>> from USENET to at least be required to monitor the output from their
>> fee-paying customers (and to be charged by the USENET community for their
>> use ???).
> 
> Great idea! Have you sent in your money yet? Oh, I see. That is supposed to
> apply only to public access systems but not to you, right?
>> Normally there is a *reasonable* level of accountability because the posters
>> are employees, or students, of the host site's administration.  With public
>> access sites, there is virtually no implied restraint.
> 
> There clearly isn't in a commercial environment either, or at least nobody
> censored your post, did they?

> What would you Canadians do without government intervention?

The points raised are real: Public access sites can add good participants
to the net, but they can also add some real garbage users to.. JJ is an 
example of the latter. With one set of postings he's managed to create a
near forest-fire within the USENET newsgrops.  Being involved in discussions
a few months ago about starting a public access system, one of my biggest
worries about giving users access to usenet was the possibility of getting
a user like JJ who manages to just insert garbage into the datastream.
  If JJ had posted his note from a work site chances are he would have been
fired.  He could have been similarly chastised if he posted from an 
institutional site.  However, on a paid system, he just looks like a VISA
number and all you can do is cut him off.
  USENET is a wonderful system, but it DOES eat resources.  I would feel
a bit guilty about taking money to give someone like JJ free reign to cause
the furor he had and, although it's almost impossible to stop ALL abuse,
a system that takes in money for USENET does owe it to the rest of the net
to at least TRY to filter out some of the worst of it (without unduly
limiting legitimate use).
  It's a minefield.
-- 
-------------
 Stephen Samuel 			Disclaimer: You betcha!
  {ihnp4,ubc-vision,mnetor,vax135}!alberta!edm!steve
  BITNET: USERZXCV@UOFAMTS