Re: PGP in FIDO

[Mike Godwin <mnemonic@eff.org>]

Perry writes:

> 1) The ECPA *DOES* apply to the BBSes whether they want it to or not.
>    All the hoping in the world doesn't make a statute go away. Merely
>    declaring that the ECPA doesn't apply to you doesn't work -- try
>    declaring the tax laws don't apply to you some time and see if that
>    works.

That said, it should be noted that sysops can contract with users for
users to waive their privacy rights under ECPA. But I think sysops should
do this *explicitly*, and should not justify doing so because of vague
perceptions of vaguely understood legal liability.

I also have to take exception to the statement by some people here that
sysops never allow private e-mail. I knew sysops who routinely did so when
I lived in Austin. But maybe Austin is more enlightened than the rest of
the country.

> 2) The BBS operators are NOT liable UNLESS they censor the mail. If
>    they censor the mail, they are liable for anything they fail to
>    censor. If they do not censor, they are common carriers, and have
>    no liability.
 
I wouldn't say this quite so strongly, but Perry has the gist of it right.
If you take on the duty of monitoring e-mail, you risk creating liability
for yourself if something problematic doesn't get censored. And the sysops
here generally admit that they don't real *all* e-mail.


--Mike