allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery) (04/23/87)
As quoted from <1073@epimass.UUCP> by jbuck@epimass.UUCP (Joe Buck): +--------------- | >Charging somebody with faking mail and news before you have proof, and while | >the only evidence you have is obtained by using your root privs to read | >other's protected directories is quite the case of the pot calling the kettle | >black. | | It is not. The system administrator not only has the right, but the | DUTY, to investigate in cases like this. If she had come across any +--------------- Perhaps we should take heed of something from the BBS world: As a result of the Tcimpidis case and other similar ``incidents'' involving CBBS systems, it is a legal REQUIREMENT that a system operator examine all messages, private or public, for illegal content and remove them if necessary. This, by extension, applies to electronic mail in general, whether it is on the Usenet, UUCP or Internet private mail, or an Internet bboard. Not doing this can get a system operator thrown in jail. Because of this requirement, electronic mail is dissimilar to USPS mail, to answer another posting. While the USPS also has this responsibility, they may not open sealed letters without evidence beforehand that it is necessary. On the other hand, an SA is required to check even private messages, if I understand correctly the net result of the BBS incidents. All I can say for myself is that electronic mail laws are in need of being worked out and formalized, taking into account the nature of the medium. There are also (legal? ethical?) questions involved; for example, is an electronic mailbox as sacrosanct as a sealed envelope, given that it is used in the same way? Does this remain true when it is considered that as far as the computer is concerned, a mailbox is like any other data file? What about the fact that an SA is responsible for the contents of all files on hir system? This area of law needs quite a bit of work. (In particular: if there *is* a law stating that electronic mail is equivalent to paper mail for legal pur- poses, this contradics the experience of BBS sysops with the law. Which law is correct?) ++Brando -- Brandon S. Allbery {decvax,cbatt,cbosgd}!cwruecmp!ncoast!allbery Tridelta Industries {ames,mit-eddie,talcott}!necntc!ncoast!allbery 7350 Corporate Blvd. necntc!ncoast!allbery@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Mentor, OH 44060 +01 216 255 1080