[news.sysadmin] Censorship Decisions

skyler@violet.berkeley.edu (11/16/87)

Are there set policies when and why to pull somebody's account?

It seems that, whether or not the net is protected by the first amendment,
there ought to be a procedure before someone is censored.  I, for one,
would have been perfectly happy if Eric Mading had apologized and then
tried restating his ideas in some less racist way.  I think that most
people probably feel the same way.  I would hope, therefore, that the
administration at puff (or anywhere else where there is a similar situation)
would first try to talk to him and try to persuade him not to be so
offensive.  Considering that Eric Mading admitted that he was being so
offensive to get attention, it might have been very easy to get him to
stop.

That plan assumes, of course, a fair amount of time on the part of the
SA.

-skyler
usenet  ucbvax!jade!violet!skyler   
arpa    skyler@violet.berkeley.edu

daveb@geac.UUCP (11/16/87)

In article <5924@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> skyler@violet.berkeley.edu.UUCP () writes:
>Are there set policies when and why to pull somebody's account?
>It seems that, whether or not the net is protected by the first amendment,
>there ought to be a procedure before someone is censored.  

  There might be a good case here for writing up a "nettiquette re
assasination" document for system administrators, and placing a
reference to it in the normal net ettiquete material.

  I would propose something of this sort:
	-- its you're system to administer
	-- we have a long history in this area
	-- here's some background
	-- kill cautiously!

	
-- 
 David Collier-Brown.                 {mnetor|yetti|utgpu}!geac!daveb
 Geac Computers International Inc.,   |  Computer Science loses its
 350 Steelcase Road,Markham, Ontario, |  memory (if not its mind)
 CANADA, L3R 1B3 (416) 475-0525 x3279 |  every 6 months.