From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 14:31:34 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Internet Freedom Decision
Message-ID: <199808142131.RAA05279@dewdrop2.mindspring.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


John Gilmore calls attention to a recent US District Court decision
which affirms controversial publication on the Internet:

   This is a big deal; it is strong support for the idea that publications
   should remain visible on the Internet UNTIL a judge has declared
   them illegal.  Current practice of complainers is to try to get
   the material taken down immediately (typically by a service provider
   who's afraid to get sued), and then fight over whether to put it back!

   The case is in a defamation context, but might be applicable to the
   more common trademark/copyright/trade secret (e.g. scientology or
   domain name) censorship controversies.

   We should put the decision on the Web, and publicize the case.

-----

See the decision and ACLU press release on it:

   http://jya.com/sheehan.htm