Re: Remailer Operator Liability?

At 05:53 PM 6/15/96 +1000, Zed wrote:
>
>Unlikely. The use of anonymous remailers was given as a reason for why it
>was impossible to effectively determine if indecent material was being
>distributed to a minor who was using a nym. I think pressure on anonymous
>remailers is going to increase as various groups complain that the paw
>innocent widdle kiddies are "vulnerable to corruption"(or some bullshit like
>that) because their age can be hidden. Read the decision. The CDA _may_ be
>declared constitutional if there was an effective and reliable way of
>preventing minors from accessing "indecent" material - which anonymous
>remailers make harder to do.

However, even if remailers didn't exist, kiddies could still be unknowingly
reached via mailing lists (anyone know who came up with the term "email
exploder" that the Court used instead of "mailing list"?), freenet accounts,
un- age verified accounts opened anywhere on earth, or borrowed accounts.
The decision mentioned some of this.

DCF

Excerpts from internet.cypherpunks: 17-Jun-96 Re: Remailer Operator
Liabi.. by Duncan Frissell@panix.co 
> However, even if remailers didn't exist, kiddies could still be unknowingly
> reached via mailing lists (anyone know who came up with the term "email
> exploder" that the Court used instead of "mailing list"?), freenet accounts,
> un- age verified accounts opened anywhere on earth, or borrowed accounts.
> The decision mentioned some of this.

I believe we used the term "email exploder" instead of "mailing list,"
particularly in cross-examination and closing arguments, to convey the
idea that such a device is often used for conversation, not just one-way
communication.

The fight-censorship list (mail exploder?) is part of the lawsuit, and
my sworn testimony included:

  the list sometimes includes material that could be considered
"indecent" or   "patently offensive."  Minors are not excluded from this
list.

-Declan

> (anyone know who came up with the term "email exploder" that the Court 
> used instead of "mailing list"?)

The only time I've ever heard the term was in conjunction with the email 
sent out by the Clinton campaign during the last election.  

I probably misunderstood what was going on, but at the time I assumed that
it was a little different than a mail list.  My impression was that it
was for broadcasting rather than disucssing (ie., only the campaign could
use it), and that it was hierarchical in nature (mail goes to a dozen or a
hundred "exploders" who then send it out to a couple of hundred thousand
individuals).

At 8:43 AM -0400 6/17/96, Declan B. McCullagh wrote:
> I believe we used the term "email exploder" instead of "mailing list,"
> particularly in cross-examination and closing arguments, to convey the
> idea that such a device is often used for conversation, not just one-way
> communication.

Ah. Probably related to that famous proto-cypherpunk character in the
Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Utopia, Ltd., the Anonymous Royal
Mail-Exploder....

<hyuk!>

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga

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