"This post is G-Rated"

[Timothy C. May]

I typically enjoy Lucky's jaundiced analyses, but I think he is overly
paranoid in this one:

At 5:28 AM 1/26/96, Lucky Green wrote:

>What you will see is something like this: all lists/newsgroups will have to
>be moderated with the name of the moderator clearly stated just as it is in
>print magazines today. If something that is potentially dangerous to

First, printed material does *not* have to have an author or publisher
specified. The usual case cited is the Supreme Court decision on "anonymous
handbills." I know of some zines that have no identifiable origin point.
And anonymous pieces are published (even where the publisher/editor does
not know the true author.)

Second, Usenet is a global thing. Which national laws will apply? If the
U.S. somehow is dumb enough to demand that each of the 12,000+ current
Usenet groups have a moderator in a U.S. jurisdiction....well, there are
too many issues here to properly deal with in a short note.

Third, if the moderator is liable for "allowing" inappropriate material to
get through, I predict a rather severe shortage of moderators. It's already
a thankless job, so why any sane person take on the liability of doing it?

Fourth, the Soviets couldn't control the underground "samizdat" press, and
this was when the sanctions were stronger and the channels of communicaton
more available. Today, in the West, there are at least two orders of
magnitude more channels, and several orders of magnitude more sites,
bandwidth, etc.

Fifth, major constitutional challenges would be mounted. The First
Amendment says that a posting to a public discussion does not first have to
be cleared by a censor/moderator! (I'm not saying a group cannot be
moderated, I'm saying that making it a crime to have an unmoderated,
uncensored group will not pass constitutional muster.)


--Tim

Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay at got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."