From: dlester@cs.man.ac.uk (David Lester)
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Mr K Walsh, a word in your ear (Was: Shut the fuck up)
Date: 17 Nov 92 11:13:01 GMT
Organization: Dept Computer Science, University of Manchester, U.K.

Dear Mr Walsh,

I trust you will find the following article (from the archives) amusing,
rather than prophetic.

Yours didactically,

---
David Lester, Manchester University, UK.


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Article <l7qrodINNa23@news.bbn.com>,
From: levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin)


(from the Business section of the San Jose Mercury News,
Friday, July 31, 1992)

"Email epithets spark Sun lawsuit"

by Brandon Bailey

By his own admission, Philip Stromer liked to push the
boundaries of good taste when he sent out jokes and
political statements on his employer's electronic
mail network.

But according to a lawsuit filed this week in Santa
Clara County Superior Court, Stromer pushed too far.

The 32-year-old technical writer says he was fired by
Sun Microsystems in April after he sent a series of
email messages that were anything but politically
correct.

The messages were posted on an electronic bulletin
board used by Sun workers to exchange jokes and
running commentary on a variety of topcis unrelated
to their jobs.

"I was just trying to make conversation," Stromer
said in an interview.  "I would normally take
whatever position was unpopular."

His electronic broadsides ranged from pro-Israel
and anti-abortion arguments to jokes about AIDS
and graphic epithets about gays.  Eventually he
signed on to a nationwide computer network using
his terminal at Sun and typed what he described
as "some very extremely nasty stuff" on a bulletin
board used primarily to exchange sarcastic insults
and vitriolic humor.

A Sun spokeswoman said the company would not comment.

The case raises interesting questions about the
increasing popularity of electronic bulletin
boards and message systems on which users can
type all kinds of outrageous statements without
having to look their audience in the eye.  Stromer
says he always signed his own name to his messages
and never meant to threaten anyone personally.

But several legal experts say that anti-discrimination
laws require management to step in when employees
create an atmosphere that is hostile or intimidating
to any group.

"An occasional joke, maybe," said Patricia Shiu, staff
attorney at the non-profit Employment Law Center in
San Francisco.  "But if an employer (allows) that kind
of thing repeatedly, he exposes himself to liability
for allowing a discriminatory environment."

In his lawsuit, Stromer claims his bosses violated his
right to free expression.  He said he was just trying
to liven up the conversations that Sun employees routinely
conduct on a variety of email bulletin boards.  And he
compared himself with comedian Lenny Bruce.  (Stromer
said he had been scolded before but he drew his first
written reprimand from Sun for a joke about AIDS and
Magic Johnson, and another about AIDS and anal sex.)

"This type of exchange... is deemed by Sun management
to show poor judgment and blatant disregard for the
feelings of coworkers," said the reprimand.

By Stromer's account, he was fired after he used his
work computer to hurl messages including graphic epithets
at gays across a national network.  The network automatically
identified the messages as coming from a Sun computer.

Stromer is acting as his own attorney.  He said he sought
help from the American Civil Liberties Union and a
conservative foundation but both told him his employer
had a right to regulate his speech on company computers.

= = =

[Typed in by sf at dec and reposted w/o his permission, which is why
I'm leaving his name off / JBL]