mcb@tis.llnl.gov (Michael C. Berch) (05/26/88)
[Re articles posted by JJ@cup.portal.com soliciting funds for personal use] In article <2530@kitty.UUCP> larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) writes: > I will leave as an execise to the reader to consider the possible > legal implications of using interstate communications ("by wire") to > solicit the sending of money "by mail" to a blind post office box, no less. > And we don't even have the real name of the alleged impoverished student. and in article <3647@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> max@eros.UUCP (Max Hauser) writes: > [...] > Well, this person is transmitting a plea throughout at least the United > States for mailed money and is stipulating explicit purposes to which it > would be put. Therefore, in contrast to many Usenet gambits that are > merely obnoxious, JJ's would seem to fall within the purview of the US > fraud-by-wire and other federal statutes, and therefore eligible for the > attention of the US Department of Justice, including the FBI. Any eager > young D-o-J attorneys out there who might want to take it and run with it? First of all, I quite agree that the articles represent a gross abuse of the net, and sent a strong letter to root@cup.portal.com and usenet@cup.portal.com, neither of which has been answered (though I understand that Portal has yanked "JJ"'s account. Some of you may remember when a similar situation arose when multiple articles were posted by a garyt@ihlpa.ATT.COM a few weeks ago containing a bizarre commercial announcement about a weight-loss plan to a large number of inappropriate newsgroups. That aside, I wonder as a legal matter whether US federal mail fraud/wire fraud statutes would or should apply to the solicitation of funds for personal purposes across state lines. Assuming for the purposes of argument that "JJ" is in fact a student, what law has been violated? I do not believe that it presently is, or should be, a crime to solicit funds except where the solicitor makes fraudulent misrepresentations in connection with the solicitation (e.g., claiming to be a charity, falsely claiming that the donor will receive valuable consideration, etc.) or where the solicitation involves trespassing, breach of the peace, etc. (as in anti-panhandling laws). Anybody have a learned opinion on this? Michael C. Berch mcb@tis.llnl.gov / {ames,ihnp4,lll-crg,lll-lcc,mordor}!lll-tis!mcb