From: frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz)
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 1996 17:55:30 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Vexatious Litigants  (was: SurfWatch)
Message-ID: <199603080708.XAA25178@netcom7.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 10:29 PM 3/7/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:
>My point was that "opinions" (such as movie reviews) are not "tortable"
>(don't know the legal name), unless specific inaccuracies can be
>demonstrated, and even then it is hard. Siskel and Ebert have undoubtedly
>destroyed the box office prospects of many a movie with their "thumbs down"
>diss of death, but I know of no successful (or even adjudicated) lawsuits
>on this basis.

I agree fully so far.  However, when your TimWatch software takes action
based on your opinions, you may have crossed the line between speech and
action.  Since you made the decision, rather than just provided an opinion,
you might, in our current legal climate, have caused a tort.

It would be interesting to see if a HIV positive teen could sue SurfWatch
because it blocked him from getting information on safe sex.

IMO our society has tilted too far away from caveat emptor toward "it's
someone else's fault".  People who let a machine censor their data deserve
what they get.  Parents who consistantly hide reality from their children,
instead of helping them learn how to deal with it, are crippling their
children.


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