Re: Just say NYET to kneejerking

[greg@ideath.goldenbear.com (Greg Broiles)]

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>    Look at the system.  Imagine you were trying to sue/prosecute a sysop who 
>    utilized such a system.  One what basis could you attack?  All decisions
>    to allow access were determined by the parent.  The sysop genuinely
>    attempts to verify that adults are adults.

"Reasonable mistake" as to the age of a minor is already an affirmative
defense in Oregon with respect to a prosecution for furnishing/distributing
obscene material to a minor. ORS 167.085(4). If you're really excited 
about this, you might look at _Ginsberg v. New York_, 398 U.S. 629. A
little poking around makes it look like that's the lead case re
prosecutions for furnishing obscenity to minors. It includes as an
appendix a list of 35 states' "furnishing obscenity to minors" statutes,
circa 1968 (cites only).

In Oregon, it looks like a sysadmin would need to know or have good reason
to know (a) that the material furnished was obscene, and (b) that the person
the material was furnished to was a minor. The standard of "obscenity" for
what minors can see/can't see may be stricter than the traditional Miller
test (Ginsberg) but can't be so strict as "no nudity regardless of context",
at least here in Oregon.


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