BBS operator rights -- a paper

["L. Detweiler" <ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu>]

From Current Underground Digest Volume 5 : Issue 70. CuD FTP sites
appended below. A paper by jmbell@DARMOK.WIN.NET(Jonathan Bell) on BBS
operator & user rights. Somewhat speculative: points out existing legal
framework is woefully inadequate to deal with this `fundamentally new
category' combining `the mass communications functions of publisher,
distributor, broadcaster, advertiser and utility rolled into one'.
(imagine the revolutions of the telephone, television, printing press
combined -- that's one of my analogies)

>It may seem shocking for [BBS] users today to learn that more than ever they
>are responsible for what they write and what they distribute.

he has it backwards -- now, *less* than ever (with things like
cyberspatial anonymity). I guess he's got a point though.

>The media lessons of copyright, privacy and
>defamation still are being taught on the networks today. They will
>continue as more people log on to the networks at hand, spreading
>their personage electronically.

actually, I think societal attitudes on `libel' `slander' and
`defamation' and `sedition' (wink wink) are going to be radically
transformed over the next few decades.

1) a mere posting alone is meaningless, and people will begin to
understand that offense is in the eye of the beholder. if there is no
tracable author there can be no `responsibility' and no one should
overreact as if there is.

2) overreaction will decrease. in fact I see networks as sort of a
automatic PC (policitically correct) countering device. People that are
incredibly sensitive about sexist language or whatever the current
fashionable academic term is will tend to get flamed into oblivion.
Likewise people that overreact to anonymous spew. Likewise, however,
people that are prejudiced get nailed into a more moderate consensus
too. Rough humans will get to be increasingly polished by the
torrential downpour of cyberspace.

also, concepts of `copyright' will be radically transformed. the
situation will be such that the `netiquette' will evolve where authors
are required to include hypertext *pointers* to actual works, rather
than copying the work itself. In this way many diverse problems (such
as automatic updating, handling fee charging, etc.) are localized to
the correct location (the author himself).

However, I also foresee a great deal of future turmoil and turbulence
on all these topics. We will probably reach a crescendo of outcry about
the time the first unrestricted commercial networks appear, say, mid-to-late 90s.

===cut=here==

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1993 18:28:32
From: jmbell@DARMOK.WIN.NET(Jonathan Bell)
Subject: File 3--Re: A Class Like None Other [revised]

((MODERATORS' NOTE: For parsimony, we reproduce here only the first
and last two paragraphs of Johnathan Bell's paper, which summarize
his central themes. His points are well-argued, and the copious
footnotes should be of value to scholars. The entire paper can be
obtained from the CuD ftp archives. We recommend it)).

 A CLASS LIKE NONE OTHER:  HOW THE TRADITIONAL MEDIA CLASSIFICATIONS
              FAIL TO PROTECT IN THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER

                           by Jonathan Bell


August 4, 1993
Mass Communications Law and Ethics
Dwight Teeter - Summer 1993

Imagine the mass communications functions of publisher, distributor,
broadcaster, advertiser and utility rolled into one and you might find
that the beast before you is being operated out of your own home -- or
at least that of a friend or neighbor.  The computer bulletin board
(BBS) offers a variety of services to its users: shopping, electronic
mail, public discussion of hot topics, free software, free advice,
news. All that may sound idealistic but it is here. The only thing
endangering BBS' and their system operators' (sysops') ability to run
them is a legal system unclear and uneducated about the First
Amendment held dearly by those who keep them going, whether they are
the users or the operators.

Exactly where BBS' stand in the legal structure has not been
definitively decided by anyone. Getting sysops to agree has yet to be
accomplished, users see things differently and lawyers and government
often have views widely divergent from the thoughts of the other two.
The simple fact that the proper status of bulletin boards has yet to
be answered reasonably opens up the dire need for a new media
classification system. No one sees eye to eye, and assurances that the
right thing will always be done do not work.

                      *************************

It may seem shocking for users today to learn that more than ever they
are responsible for what they write and what they distribute. The
ability to have your voice heard is unprecedented but so is the
capability to harm. The media lessons of copyright, privacy and
defamation still are being taught on the networks today. They will
continue as more people log on to the networks at hand, spreading
their personage electronically.

Education can answer many of the problems facing the electronic world
today. But no puzzles are solvable until computer information systems
and bulletin boards are granted the highest degree of First Amendment
rights and freedom from liability necessary to keep the waves of
public exchange coming throughout the future.

------------------------------

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