Re: Are Remailers Liable for What They Remail?

Perry sez:
  UUNET, among others, considers itself to be a common carrier.

My understanding is that, legally speaking, "considering [oneself]
to be a common carrier" amounts to exactly nil -- that it requires
a special act of some governing body to declare you to be a common
carrier.   One might just as well consider oneself to be an
accredited diplomat and therefore to have diplomatic immunity.

Any of the real lawyers on the net care to comment?

	kitten

Patrick Juola says:
> My understanding is that, legally speaking, "considering [oneself]
> to be a common carrier" amounts to exactly nil -- that it requires
> a special act of some governing body to declare you to be a common
> carrier.

Not quite. If tomorrow you started a new overnight mail service, you
would probably be a common carrier if you acted like one, no act of
congress needed.

The question is not a simple one. My one conversation on this subject
with someone from UUNET more or less went "our lawyers say we should
act like one and hope the courts decide that we are right."

Perry