Re: Remailer Musings

[juola@bruno.cs.colorado.edu]

  I disagree with Brad's interpretation.  For example, if I photocopy a 
  book and anonymously snail mail it to people, do you think the postal 
  service is going to take the fall?  Nope - they are just a carrier, and 
  are not responsible for content.  Like the common carriers - they just 
  receive a message and pass it along.  They aren't responsible for message 
  content.  If Brad Templeton's view of the world was the prevailing (or 
  correct) one, then every common carrier in the country, including Ma Bell 
  and the US Postal Service, would not exist, because they would've been 
  sued out of existence long ago.

On the other hand, part of the rules of being a common carrier are that
one is *required* to cooperate with appropriate authorities to prevent
this sort of abuse and to catch said abusers if/when it happens.  I
suspect that Mr. Templeton's lawyer could make a case that by setting
up a remailer where one cannot "trace calls," one is violating the
requirements of being a common carrier, and thus is responsible for
content.

	- kitten