Now that the CDA decision has been made, I was wondering how this would affect the liability status of the various remailer operators? In the past several remailers have opted to discontinue service due to legal/political pressure. Will this CDA decision help to decrease remailer operator liability?
Unlikely. The use of anonymous remailers was given as a reason for why it was impossible to effectively determine if indecent material was being distributed to a minor who was using a nym. I think pressure on anonymous remailers is going to increase as various groups complain that the paw innocent widdle kiddies are "vulnerable to corruption"(or some bullshit like that) because their age can be hidden. Read the decision. The CDA _may_ be declared constitutional if there was an effective and reliable way of preventing minors from accessing "indecent" material - which anonymous remailers make harder to do. On another front, anonymous remailers were brought up in the latest hearing of the Church of Scientology's court case against Dennis Erlich. Judge Whyte expressed concern that trade secret status could be destroyed simply by posting information through an anonymous remailer. Of course, the Church dearly wants those concerns to be considered valid in law. I expect Whyte to set a precedent concerning anonymous remailers sometime soon, and it is unlikely to be a good one. Zed(hendersn@zeta.org.au) "Don't hate the media, become the media" - Jello Biafra PGP key on request