mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-12-26 07:49:37 -05:00
47 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
47 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
Reprinted from: Compuserve's Online Today
|
|
|
|
FEDERAL PRIVACY SUIT AGAINST BBS OPERATOR (March 26)
|
|
|
|
An electronic bulletin board system user has filed a $112,000 lawsuit
|
|
against a BBS and its system operator claiming that the sysop did not properly
|
|
safeguard private electronic mail. The lawsuit could prove to be a landmark
|
|
since a court ruling would be the first one handed down under the federal
|
|
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. The ECPA mandates privacy
|
|
protection of electronic communications, including the electronic mail found
|
|
on commercial services and bulletin board systems.
|
|
Linda Thompson filed a pro se complaint in the US District Court for the
|
|
Southern District of Indiana. The civil action alleges that Bob Predaina,
|
|
doing business as the Professional's Choice Bulletin Board, violated federal
|
|
or Indiana state law on 10 counts.
|
|
According to the complaint obtained by Online Today, during December of 1987,
|
|
Predaina allowed others to access and view the contents of all electronic
|
|
communications in a private message portion of the subscription BBS.
|
|
Previously deleted private messages were also restored so that others could
|
|
read them. Apparently, Thompson`s private e-mail was among the messages made
|
|
available to others.
|
|
Again, in January, 1988, the sysop "intentionally or recklessly intercepted
|
|
and restored to the public portion of the board," a private message of
|
|
Thompson's that she had previously deleted. In subsequent action, the sysop
|
|
denied Thompson access to the board even though she had paid one year
|
|
subscription to the BBS. When Thompson requested that the sysop refrain from
|
|
actions that "were contrary to the law," Predaina refused.
|
|
The last two counts of the complaint could be the most damaging and state
|
|
that on January 6, the sysop "intentionally, maliciously or with reckless
|
|
disregard for the truth, made statements which on their face are damaging to
|
|
the professional and personal reputation of [Thompson] in public and to another
|
|
person, subjecting the Petitioner to humiliation, personal anguish and
|
|
ridicule." In the suit, Predaina is charged with making similar statements in
|
|
the form of publicly posted BBS messages.
|
|
Predaina did not respond to phone calls from Online Today for a reaction to
|
|
the lawsuit. However, callers to Predaina's BBS are greeted with a public
|
|
apology to Thompson.
|
|
"Generally sysops are good at policing themselves and their boards," Thompson
|
|
told Online Today. "The reason for the lawsuit was that there apparently was
|
|
going to be no resolution between [Predaina and myself]. I think that if you
|
|
have a board that has a facility for private mail, you have a right to expect
|
|
that private mail stays private and is not spread all over."
|
|
|
|
--James Moran
|
|
|