brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (06/01/84)
It has been stated several times that this BBS had an "Underground" category on it, and this is where the illegal information was distributed. Are the posters defending the BBS simply not aware of this, or are people actually saying that such activity should be encouraged. It's akin to putting a sign on your garage saying "Hard Drugs Trading Post" and letting pushers and junkies use it freely. You might not watch or take note of who sells, who buys, or what drugs are sold, but you are still guilty. This BBS owner (or so it is alleged) set up a board with a section called Underground, and effectively said - here is where to discuss, plan and even carry out illegal and quasi-legal activities such as fraud, copyright violations and infringement of trade secrets. The specific activity in this case is fraud. The owner may not have been direct party to the alleged fraud, but was surely an important part of it. Now if some private information like an MCI number were to show up on some system that didn't encourage crime, that's a different story and there is no need for confiscation, and there should never be any. Same with the phone company. But if the phone company actively set up a special network for the purposes of crime, you can bet there would be charges. -- Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ontario (519) 886-7304