From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic@eff.org>
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 93 13:13:44 PDT
To: jet@netcom.com (J. Eric Townsend)
Subject: Re: FIDONet Mail filtering - a course of action
In-Reply-To: <9310011746.AA02062@netcom6.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <199310012011.AA22848@eff.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



J. Eric writes:

> So how do I prevent what happened to SJG, killer, etc from happening
> to me?

What gives you the impression that there is *anything* you can do to
prevent it? The BBS seized in the SJG case did not have illegal material
on it. 

> How do I prevent the LE types from showing up one day and
> saying 'hey, did you know there's a meg of kiddie porn on your machine
> and we're taking it all away'?

You can't prevent it. You can minimize the risk of it by destroying any
kiddie porn you find uploaded to your system. Unless the kiddie porn has
been included as part of an electronic communication, it's just a file,
and not covered by ECPA. Nothing in ECPA prevents you from looking at any
GIFs uploaded to your system, but ECPA does prevent your interception or
disclosure of electronic messages that pass through your system if you're
not the intended recipient.

> Do I have pull my machine off the net and go back to pre-bangnet
> times?

Pulling your system off the net does not eliminate the possibility that it
will be seized. Nothing does.


--Mike