alb (03/16/83)
I just delivered a piece of traffic tonight which I picked up from one of our local nets, and its contents got me thinking (yes, it's hard to start those gears, but on occasion...): Generally, it was a request from a person (dunno whether or not it was the actual originator of the message) for the recipient to deliver a phone number to the author of the message. Now, how do I know that that phone number is not going to be used by the author for a business application? Clearly, that's a violation of the rules. Granted, if the author is the originator of the message, he should know better, and if the author is not the originator, it should be the originator's responsibility to make sure that the message does not break any rules. But, in the rare case that something like this DOES get through, what is the implication for those people who handle the message (the people between and including the originator and the deliverer)? If the FCC finds that a piece of traffic breaks some rule(s), are the handlers of that traffic equally responsible for it and are they subject to punishment? e.g. If that phone number IS for business, and the FCC finds out about it, can I, as a handler of the traffic and the person who delivered it, get in trouble for it?