boomer@athena.princeton.edu (Don Alvarez) (02/26/90)
With all this discussion of Gov't confiscations of electronic bulletin boards, it would certainly be worthwhile for anyone who operates a bulletin board to bop on down to their local library and do a little reading. Two sections that I highly recommend are The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (PL 99-508, HR 4952) and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (USC title 18 section 1030). They are short, readable by ordinary humans, and your reference librarian should have no trouble helping you locate them. Anyone who operates an electronic bulletin board really owes it to themself to have at least some idea where they and the law stand. There are a number of interesting twists to the ECPA worth knowing about. A year or so ago, I typed in the text to the (then under discussion in the House) Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It might be a little outdated or incorrect now, but it is in electronic form, and I'll send a copy of it separately to the moderator. If he doesn't feel like posting it, you can drop me a line and ask me to send you a copy. Unfortunately, the one you folks really want to read is probably the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and I don't know have an electronic copy of that (anyone feel like doing a little typing?) Don [Moderator's Note: Thanks for the copy you sent. It has been filed in the TELECOM Archives under the title 'computer.fraud.abuse.act' for anyone who wants a copy. The archives are available via ftp from lcs.mit.edu in the telecom-archives directory. PT]