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126 lines
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126 lines
6.4 KiB
Plaintext
The Law Versus Computers:
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A Confounding Terminal Case
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By Lee Dembart, Times Editorial Writer
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Los Angeles Times 08/11/85
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Technology sometimes advances faster than the law, creating no-
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vel problems to challenge social and legal thought. The Xerox ma-
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chine, for example, was a new form of printing press that eventu-
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ally forced Congress to revise the copyright laws.
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The proliferation of electronic bulletin boards - on which mil-
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lions of people exchange information using home computers and tel
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ephones - has opened a new and powerful mode of communication lar
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gely untouched by existing law. The nation's 2,500 computer bull-
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etin boards are electronically published newspapers, and their op
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erators are, in effect, newspaper publishers. They should have
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all the rights of publishers and the responsibilities for accura-
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cy that go with them.
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This new electronic medium is as powerful as the Xerox machine,
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providing nearly instantaneous international communication among
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large numbers of people who are physically removed and will prob-
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ably never meet. The technology brings back the era of the pamph-
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leteer - and goes one step further: It enables publication with-
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out a press.
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But efforts are underway, in California and elsewhere, to make
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the operators of computer bulletin boards criminally liable for
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what appears on them. These efforts threaten to clash with the fr
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eedoms of speech and the press. They are likely to be unenforcea-
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ble to boot. Legislative attempts to restrict communication pose
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serious First Amendment problems.
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While most material on computer bulletin boards involves the ro
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utine exhange of harmless information, thoughts and chatter, leg-
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islators are concerned about the occasional entry that is libel-
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ous, obscene or illegal. Should the operator of a bulletin board
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be criminally liable for such material? For example, computer hac
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kers and phone "phreaks" sometumes use electronic bulletin boards
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to post the numbers of valid consumer and telephone credit cards.
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A Los Angeles television engineer, Thomas G. Tcimpidis, 33, was
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threatened with prosecution last year because a bulletin board he
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maintained contained the numbers of two stolen phone card num-
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bers.
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Beyond its legal aspects, the Tcimpidis case illustrates the
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scope of the bulletin boards. When word of the place raid on Tcim
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pidis's home appeared on a bulletin board, it quickly spread, rea
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ching between a half-million and three-quarters of a million
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board watchers in 72 hours, according to Chuck Lindner, Tcimpid-
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is's lawyer. Replies came from Japan, Australia, England and Can-
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ada as well as from most of the United States, Lindner said, and
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a legal defense strategy was planned among far-flung lawyers over
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the bulletin boards.
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The case was eventually dropped, but a bill is now making its
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way through the Legislature that would make it a crime for a bul-
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letin-board operator to display unauthorized private information
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after he has been notified that it is there. In Virginia, a bill
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has been introduced that would make it a crime to put or maintain
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information on a computer bulletin board that would help promote
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the sexual abuse of children, even though there is nothing ob-
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scene about the information itself. If two people sent "Lolita"
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back and forth over a bulletin board in Virginia, could they be
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prosecuted?
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These measures suggest prior restraint of publication, which is
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unconstitutional. In an attempt to aboid the constitutional is-
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sues, the California bill (SB 1012), sponsored by Sen. John T.
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Doolittle (R-Citrus Heights), is narrowly drawn. The information
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it seeks to keep off bulletin boards is "a telephone number or ad
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dress not listed in a public telephone directory, personal ident-
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ification number, computer password, access code, credit card num
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ber, debit card number or bank account number."
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That may sound like a good idea, but no newspaper could be
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found criminally liable for publishing such material. It may be
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civilly liable - someone who lost money as a result of publica-
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tion could sue for damages - but it would not have violated the
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penal code. Under Doolittle's bill, passed by the Senate and a-
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waiting action in the Assembly, the operator of a computer bulle-
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tin board in violation of the law could be sent to jail for a
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year and fined $5,000.
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It would be extremely difficult to enforce. How much notice
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must be given. Does the operator of a bulletin bord have a right
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to object to or question the assertion that the material on the
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board is unauthorized? If not, credit-card companies, banks and
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the like would have the authority to restrain publication simply
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by demanding it. Who has the right to demand suppression?
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No matter what the answers to these questions, the fact is that
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the law affects only California. It's easy enough to set up a bul
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letin board in Nevada and avoid the problem completely.
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There are more questions. The Federal Communications Act regul-
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ates telephone communication. Newspapers are constitutionally pro
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tected. Which rules cover computer bulletin boards - in a sense
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hybrid forms? Or are they a new form for which new rules must be
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written? And why should those rules be stricter than those that
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already exist?
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Bulletin boards are protected by the First Amendment, and they
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should have all the freedoms associated with freedom of the
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press. Laws already exist to prosecute the computer crimes that
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authorities are properly trying to stop. New laws that restrict
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freedom of expression are unnecessary and harmful.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Comments by Ron Bell, DATANET System Manager: Mr. Dembart makes a
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good argument, but I'm wary of the analogy. Bulletin boards rese-
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mble newspapers some ways; they differ greatly in others. The
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discussion of liable is interesting. If someone prints here
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that another user is guilty of a crime, can I, as the "publisher"
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be sued for liable for holding the skapegoat up to public ridic-
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ule? Seems to me, bulletin boards operate more like free speech
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than papers. A great deal of prior restraint takes place at est-
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ablished publications, mostly by editors. There are no editors
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here. Imposing prior restraint, then, would be restricting free-
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dom of speech. Of course, if you're a crooked politician, that
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may be a good idea.
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then, would be re |