secret@nsa.fbi.cia.org writes: [And to think I almost deleted this without reading it, presuming it was SPAM]
InterBBS, and its lawyers, maintain that their decoded neatly indexed web-accessible Usenet pictures service enjoys the same immunity for its content due to their Common Carrier status as the raw newsfeed does, and of course, they wouldn't think of keeping records on which customers read which Usenet articles.
Didn't the feds raid some company right here in Texas a while back, called NetPics, for providing decoded Usenet pictures via a Web interface? As I recall, NetPics got raided even though they tried to filter out child porn, and had all of their equipment seized. One hesitates to even think of what the feds will do to someone who is deliberately offering only decoded boysex newsgroups over the Web, but it will undoubtedly involve sharpened castration shears and lots of really bad publicity.
The net effect of all of these things coming together is that there now exists convenient pseudoanonymous web access to all boy-related child porn pictures posted to Usenet, for a small fee you may bill monthly to the credit card of your choice.
Providing the Feds haven't already taken it over, killed everyone associated with it, and decided to run it as a sting. Of course, this is an interesting legal question. Clearly, offering raw Usenet content the ISP doesn't originate absolutely shields the ISP from responsibility for the material, under current telecommunications law. The unanswered legal question is whether processing the raw news feed in some way, such as would be needed to provide web access to decoded pictures, also enjoys the same protection. It would seem that automatic transcoding of Usenet, in a way which is not content sensitive, should not be considered the origination of new content. On the other hand, the Feds are hardly going to sit still for a URL which, when clicked upon, fills ones browser screen with hundreds of thumbnails of blond pre-teen Scandinavian boys in mid-orgasm, with a legend which reads - "Click on thumbnail to get full-sized picture." And all for only $6 a month.
http://www.ivan.net/bc/messages/38850.htm (Marlin Answers His Critics)
This guy has elephant-sized balls. I wish him well in his quest to push the envelope. Certainly a lot more interesting than Prof. Bernstein and that Snuffle thing. :)
Surely the Feds are not going to take this lying down. :)
"If it saves only one child..." -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"