This is a typical example of the dilemmas faced by an anon posting operator. Here is my reply to the complaint from an user in rec.music.gdead. Don't feel good about it, but... ------- Forwarded Message To: <DELETED> Subject: Re: abuse of internet access

To whom it may concern:

I direct your attention to the following post made on the rec.music.gdead newsgroup:

Article 30001 (26 more) in rec.music.gdead: From: an13488@anon.penet.fi Subject: Tickets available Organization: Anonymous contact service X-Anonymously-To: rec.music.gdead Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1993 20:48:01 GMT Lines: 28

We have the following tickets available:

Rosemont: 3/9 12 tickets 3/10 6 tickets, 4 taper tickets 3/11 10 tickets, 8 taper tickets

Richfield: 3/14 12 tickets

Landover: 3/16 12 tickets 3/17 12 tickets, 6 taper tickets

3/17 12 tickets, 6 taper tickets 3/18 6 tickets, 2 taper tickets

Tickets will be sold for best offer. Include your phone number with your bid. Winning bidders will be contacted by phone to arrange payment and delivery of tickets. We accept Visa and Mastercard. Bids are taken up to 5 days before the show, although we may contact you earlier if we feel your bid is suficient to warrant immediate sale. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi. Due to the double-blind system, any replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi. *IMPORTANT server security update*, mail to update@anon.penet.fi for details.

This is ticket scalping, pure and simple (selling a ticket for higher than its value. This is extremely illegal in the United States. This is also a posting promoting a private enterprise for profit on the internet, extremely unethical.

Furthermore, the people who are doing this are selling what are known a s "taper tickets". These tickets are only available through the Grateful Dead Ti cket Service via mail order. The reason GDTS does this is to help deter scalpe rs. I hereby request 2 courses of action from you:

1)You immediately suspend Internet access priveleges of the individual(s) responsible for this posting.

2)You provide the individual's (or individuals') name(s) to the Grateful Dead Ticket Service so they may take legal action against these criminals.

I hope my letter is merely one of many that have reached you concerning this su bject. I assure you, there are many people who will not tolerate this and will do everything in their power to see that these people are caught and stopp ed. Furthermore, if you are going to offer people anonymous Internet access, be prepared to face the consequences when your clients break U.S. law. As far as I am concerned, you are an accessory and should do everything in your power to rectify this situation.

I hope you take the time to respond and tell me what measures you have taken.

I have sent the person a message informing him/her that the account will be blocked if the inappropriate postings continue. In an international world, where laws, customs and morals vary from one place and culture to another, and where a lot of people are trying to force their views onto others, the only way a service like anon.penet.fi can operate is by very simple and firm rules that are followed without exception. One rule is that I *never* reveal the true identity of an anon user, and another is that I *never* block access to the server without warning and without giving the person a chance to defend him/herself. I do understand your views, and I am very sympatetic to them, but I hope you also realize that inpartial service requires "blind" abiding to these rules. Julf ------- End of Forwarded Message