Arthur S. Alexion on 10 Feb 2004 20:02:06 -0000


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Re: [PLUG] VoiceNet Rumors?


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On Monday 09 February 2004 09:15 am, Jon Nelson wrote:
> This is the only article I could find that included a disposition:
> http://www.webmastervault.com/news-aiu-0302.shtml
>
>
> An excerpt from the above page:
>
>
> "BuffNet was charged with a misdemeanor for facilitating child pornography
> because it allowed access to a bulletin board containing images of a child
> pornographic nature. In February, 2001, the company pled guilty and a
> judge ordered BuffNet to pay a $5,000.00 fine."

Unfortunately this happens a lot.  Law enforcement mechanisms which may 
themselves be illegal or unconstitutional are allowed to persist because the 
enforced penalty is cheaper than a defense.

While a guilty plea and a payment of a fine does constitute techinical 
¨precedent¨, it evolves the expectations of those involved as it continues, 
and in doing so, lessens the chance that there will be a successful challenge 
in the future.

It only ends when someone accused can either afford principle or makes a 
determination that the cost of defense is a cost effective measure toward 
avoiding future charges.

As to the static or dynamic nature of newsgroups, my apologies for inaccuracy; 
I haven't logged on to usenet for at least six or seven years.  My 
recollection of those times, however, was theat there were a few new groups 
every time I logged on.  Sorry for nit-picking, but even at the five a week 
rate you mention, that comes to over 250 a year, an addition for each and 
every business day.  While that change may me small relative to the total 
number of newsgroups, it is hardly static and unchanging.  For the expert to 
say that ¨it is easy to keep up with the changes¨ may have been correct, but 
that isn't what was reported.  The report said that he said that it didn't 
change. [Again, sorry if my defense attorney ¨slip is showing¨. ;-)

- -- 

- --

_______________________________________
Art Alexion
Arthur S. Alexion LLC
arthur [at] alexion [dot] com
aim: aalexion
sms: 2679725536 [at] messaging [dot] sprintpcs [dot] com

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