Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!att!oucsace!csachs
From: csachs@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU (Colin Sachs)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: What constitutes abuse of the net?
Summary: Wrong-o.
Message-ID: <929@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU>
Date: 14 Dec 89 07:32:00 GMT
References: <37942@ames.arc.nasa.gov>
Organization: Ohio University CS Dept., Athens
Lines: 51

(Lawrence J. Hettinger) writes:

[intro paragraph deleted...]

> 	In rec.humor I read a particularly brutal series of
> sadistic jokes dealing with child abuse and pedophilia posted
> by an individual who will go unnamed.  I have spent a little
> bit of time yesterday and today blasting this person via e-mail, 
> and I wrote to the system administrator at the University where
> the posting originated.  I basically just lodged a protest with
> the sysad, but also asked that consideration be made of terminating
> this individual's access to the net.
> 
> 	Am I right or wrong?  What constitutes abuse of the net?
> I have no wish to infringe an individual's rights but on the 
> other hand I feel compelled to take action, particularly when
> dealing with sexual abuse of children.

[concluding plea deleted...]

Nothing.  You didn't have to read them if you found them offensive.  Just
skip over those articles you disagree with, find offensive or otherwise have
a problem with... that's one use of reading the subject line.  Otherwise,
don't complain about what you find in the articles you do read if you've a
problem with them.  Build yourself a nice heafty kill file of people you
find make offensive postings and you'll never have read anything by them
again.

You were *very* wrong in your actions.  I'm willing to bet that the stuff
you read was rot13 decrypted... you had to make a conscious choice to read
it and you chose to do so.  Now just live with the consequences. 

The only action you should have taken was to, possibly, reply directly to
the individual who posted.  But if the posting was rot13, then it is your
own problem for having read it: no one *made* you.  No reply to the posting
individual should have been made.  Censorship of *anyone* on the net is
a Bad Thing.  You have absolutely no right to judge what is permissable for
posting or impermissable.

Abuse of the net might logically be construed as dumping massive amounts of
bogus postings to it just to tie up systems, posting under an assumed or
forged path/user account/user name, posting copywritten works in whole with
out permission or in part without citation, or other such things.  It is
permissable, and not an abuse, to post ones views, opinions, or arguments to
the net.  No matter who disagrees.

-- 
Colin Sachs - csachs@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu

              "All of mankind is a child waiting to be amused."
                                  - James Legare, March 8, 1989