Interesting developments in the election year attempts by New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco to create legal liability for ISPs over Usenet content, particularly alleged child porn. Over the past few years, a number of national news providers, under pressure from various self-declared "child advocates," have filtered out articles from their feeds whose newsgroup names suggested that depictions of the sexuality of minors were topical. Given that Usenet routes around censorship, that a "newsgroup" is not a tangible entity, but simply one line on a Usenet article which attempts to roughly categorize it, and that the Usenet newsgroup namespace is practically infinite, such attempts to curtail the topics discussed in the worldwide real-time conversation that is Usenet have been laughably unsuccessful. While uncensored Usenet feeds are still the standard most customers demand, this content-based pruning of the daily newsfeed by some ISPs has provided the opportunity for some in law enforcement to characterize uncensored news servers as some sort of outlaw minority. Law enforcement is now trying to use such representations as a pretense to erode the notion that ISPs should enjoy common carrier status for content they do not originate. It therefore came as no surprise when Dennis Vacco, the incumbent New York Attorney General, and an individual who has built his reputation with numerous publicity stunts revolving around sexual vices featuring those under the legal age of majority, seized the news servers of Dreamscape and Buffnet in a highly publicized raid, accompanied by simultaneous press releases and Web pages, announcing that he had broken up an "International Child Pornography Ring." 13 individuals in several countries were also arrested on various possession, trafficking, and promotion charges involving illegal erotica. The fallacies in Vacco's spewage were innumerably large. There was the absurd idea that a running gag in one newsgroup involving a mythical "Pedo University" indicated the existence of a "virtual academic institution devoted to the sexual abuse of children." Vacco also seemed to believe that individual Usenet newsgroups were owned and operated by specific individuals, and that certain newgroups were "providing services" to the aforementioned imaginary academic institution. In reality, no one owns or operates a Usenet newsgroup, and any individual may post anything he likes to any newsgroup at any time, either anonymously, or with identifying information attached. Dennis Vacco's clueless attack on the global Usenet may in fact backfire, as there is presently serious discussion over a possible three day protest, in which all traffic destined for the groups targetted by Vacco will be posted instead to alt.law-enforcement. Vacco's plans to undermine claims of common carrier status for ISP's can be found in his following statements. "Most Internet service providers choose not to carry news groups that cater to the interests of child porn traffickers for obvious reasons. "Those that do are well aware of their nature and purpose, possess the offensive images on their servers, and facilitate the transfer and trading of child pornography." CNET News.com provides the following article by Paul Festa giving further information on the attempts to criminally charge ISPs over Usenet content, available on their web site. ISPs may face charges over child porn By Paul Festa Staff Writer, CNET News.com October 30, 1998, 5:35 p.m. PT A few exerpts... As many as five Internet service providers may face serious legal charges for providing access to newsgroups used by child pornographers in cases that critics are calling election-eve politics. New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco won praise this week for his role in an international crackdown on an online child pornography ring. But critics have accused Vacco, up for reelection Tuesday, of breaking the law and playing politics in probing two New York state ISPs as part of the crackdown and seizing their newsgroup servers. Three more ISPs--two on the West Coast and one in the Midwest--are likely to receive search warrants in coming weeks, the attorney general's office told CNET News.com today. ... Law enforcement officials have not arrested or charged anyone affiliated with the ISPs. But the businesses, which provided access to the newsgroups, are under investigation for what Vacco's office describes as the knowing possession of criminal images. "The servers were confiscated as part of ongoing investigation," said Marc Wurzel, spokesman for the attorney general. "The ISPs were in possession of illegal images of children engaged in sex acts. In both cases, they were forewarned that they were in possession of illegal images." The notification came in the form of an email inquiry sent by an undercover agent. The agent posed as a student wanting to know whether he would run afoul of the law by downloading child pornography he had found through the newsgroups. A third New York ISP, located in Albany, responded to the undercover inquiries by suspending the newsgroups. As a result, that ISP is not under investigation, Wurzel said. ... Coincidentally, Congress recently passed the Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act, which would make ISPs responsible for turning in their customers. Under that legislation, access providers who fail to report child pornography once they are made aware of it could be fined up to $50,000 for the first violation and up to $100,000 for each subsequent time they fail to contact law enforcement authorities. ... Vacco has pulled ahead in what only a few weeks ago was a tight race for reelection. In a New York Times-CBS poll taken in the first week of October, Republican Vacco and Democratic opponent Eliot Spitzer were statistically tied in their race for the state's top law enforcement spot. According to a Times-CBS poll released this week, Vacco is now ahead, 48 percent to 36 percent, with 14 percent of the voters undecided. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"