Just got word a few minutes ago that Robert Thomas (who ran Amateur Action BBS) and his wife were picked up on a Federal warrant for obscenity from Memphis, TN. From what I hear from a local Postal inspector, they are going to extradited to TN to face charges there because the Feds have a choice of trying a person at either end of a transaction. This really sucks! I find it akin to busting a pron shop owner in New York for one of his customers taking "filthy pictures" back to Hicksvill. In operation Longarm the Feds argued that the person downloading stuff was responsible for knowing if it was illegal. This at least makes some sense. But, if BBS owners have to be responsible for knowing the what is considered obscene in all 50 states and each locality, then the onramps to the Information Superhighway are going to be choked off by the most backwater places in the country! Keith Henson (The entire tale of AA has been posted. I can repost if more than a few want it.) ---- The above was widely posted, this below is going to the cypherpunks list only. (for all the protection that may provide :) ) I have rather mixed feeling about the feds making these kinds of busts. I sort of wish they would not try to apply obscenity standards from the least enlightened parts of the country to all of the net community. ON the other hand, the serious adult bbs owners have enough computing resources (and now a strong motivation!) that encrypting, digital payments, "webs of trust," DC nets, etc. can be implemented at relatively low cost to them. If the feds persist, I suspect that adult bbs's are where--for all the trouble it may later cause--cypherpunk code will *really* get wide use. If you have things on which you want further information, please cc me by email as well as sending it to the list. I recently took on running Xanadu Operating Company, and am days behind reading the list Keith Henson