Re: PGP in FIDO

["Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger@lehman.com>]

Bob Izenberg says:
> Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> 
> # Mike Godwin will have to confirm this, but to my knowledge Common
> # Carrier is NOT a status you have to apply for. UUNET operates as a
> # common carrier and has never registered with anyone.
> 
> Well, we won't really know until the legal beagles deliver their opinions
> (and perhaps not even then, if they disagree.)  What I wonder is, what does
> the phrase "operates as a common carrier" mean?  Who has to grant you that
> status before it has any meaning as a legal protection?

Many sorts of status do not require that anyone GRANT you anything.
Lets say, for example, that you live in state that permits common law
marriage. In such a state, it is sufficient to think of yourself and
your S.O. as married, and behave in that manner -- at that point you
legally are married. (Note that common law marriages are now only
possible in a few state -- 9 I believe.)

As for what "common carrier" means, it means that the law recognizes
that you are a carrier of things, not a creator of them, and that you
are not responsible for what you carry. That means that the phone
company can transmit as many criminal phone conversations as it likes
without having its switches siezed.

In order to be a common carrier, you have to transmit all the messages
you receive without differentiating between them, paying attention to
what they are, or censoring them.

Perry