From: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: [news.admin.policy]  Re: Groups used to distribute illegal material
Originator: daemon@eff.org
Organization: EFF mail-news gateway
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 09:33:01 GMT


Newsgroups: news.admin.policy
From: jbotz@mtholyoke.edu (Jurgen Botz)
Subject:  Re: Groups used to distribute illegal material
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 16:38:10 GMT

In article <neuhaus.713788374@vier> neuhaus@vier.informatik.uni-kl.de (Stephan Neuhaus (HiWi Mattern)) writes:
>Hi.
>
>I have read the ongoing discussion in this group with interest at
>first.  However, when I thought of it some more, I found that all of
>the followups seem to have ignored one central issue:
>
>  If a University or company offers a news feed, it is offering a
>*service*.  Usenet is not yet a right, it's a privilege.  A University
>or company has every right to control how their computers are used.
>After all, they belong to the University or company, not to the
>students or employees.  In analogy, a newsstand does not have to carry
>each and every available newspaper or magazine.  If I, as the
>newsstand's owner, find magazines containing porno photos, fascist
>propaganda, leftist propaganda, etc. unacceptable, I will not sell
>those magazines which will probably only take up shelf space anyway.

No, I think you're missing the point, entirely.  The question you're
addressing has been discussed at great length over years, and what it
boils down to is that while USENET is certainly a service and a 
priviledge, at an ACADEMIC institution most people consider it quite
inappropriate for any person or committee to judge what material is
acceptable and what is not, i.e. you either offer it all, or you 
don't.  (See Carl Kadie's articles on University Library policies.)

But the issue I raised isn't one of judging what's acceptable, but
rather one of what is legally justifiable.

>[...] but students or employees must not be punished for reading any
>group once it's available, and tracing who reads which newsgroups
>must not be done.

I can't imagine that anybody would disagree with THAT.

>  In direct answer to the original poster, I believe you should not
>play God yourself and simply cancel the groups.  You should ask for an
>official policy, if only to get your head out of the sling.  If you
>cancelled newsgroups at your own will, that would be arbitrary and
>despotic, even if those groups carried copyrighted or otherwise
>illegally published material.

That is not a direct answer to the original poster (me).  8-).

I have no intention of playing god.  (Why can't people ever read
articles carefully before replying?  Sigh!)  In fact, I very explicitly
stated that my interest in resolving this was to determine what my
recommendation to the powers-that-be should be when they come down
on my ass.

>  I would like to thank the poster for his rational tone, which has
>done everything to avoid unnecessary flamage.  Well done!

Thank you very kindly!  ;-)
--
Jurgen Botz                  |   Internet: JBotz@mtholyoke.edu
Academic Systems Consultant  |     Bitnet: JBotz@mhc.bitnet
Mount Holyoke College        |      Voice: (US) 413-538-2375 (daytime)
South Hadley, MA, USA        | Snail Mail: J. Botz, 01075-0629