afc@pucc-i (Greg Flint) (06/09/86)
>Who's liable? Damn good question. Definitely the person who posted the >Copyright violater. Probably the people who administer/own the site it >was posted on, or the people who own that machine, for not policing it >properly. Possibly the entire net.... There is currently a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that will test if an employer is liable for the sexual abuse of one employee by another EVEN THOUGH THE COMPANY WAS UNAWARE THAT THE ABUSE HAD TAKEN PLACE. Should the Court find against the company, then perhaps the site administrator, machine owner, the net, its fiscal backers, etc. could be found guilty. I hope that the Court finds for the company, because, while a company should attempt to "moderate" its employees, it seems to me that it is impossible to "control" or "find out" what everyone is doing ALL the time. And who guards the guardians? I'm sure that some lawyer (which I'm not) out there will tell me that there is a difference between two employees and one employee and a non-employee, but it is easy to extrapolate from the first to the second. Usual disclaimers about this being personal opinion, not the opinion of Purdue University, my employer. ----------------------------------------------- Greg Flint @ Purdue University Computing Center UUCP: purdue!pucc-i!gdf -or- purdue!gdf -or- pur-ee!gdf ARPA: gdf@asc.purdue.edu -or- gdf@ee.purdue.edu USMAIL: Math-Science Bldg Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 47907 PHONE: (317) 494-1787