Jim Choate Wrote:
Hi all,
There is one important legal aspect which the operator of the Cypherpunks mailing list has opened themselves up for with this action. In short they have now opened themselves up for defamation and liable suites by imposing an editorial policy on the contents of this list (1).
This opens up the potential, for example, for Tim May to sue the operator of the Cypherpunks mailing list now for posts from users (even anonymous ones) which defame or otherwise liable his character, reputation, or ability to pursue income in his chosen field. In short the operators of the list becomes publishers and distributors of the material. It is the legal difference between a bookstore and a book publisher.
It seems that, like a bookstore, the cypherpunks mailing list has the right to choose the content it distributes and who it distributes the content to. Bookstores are free to select what titles they offer for sale, and can even refuse to sell a book to a particularly annoying customer if they so choose (my legal knowledge is lacking, but I think this is correct). To extend the analogy, what has happened in this particular case is that Dr. Vulis is now forced to buy all his books by mail order :) Thanks, Alan Majer networks@vir.com