[9376] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: International Enforcement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bruce Gingery)
Sat Jan 1 04:19:11 1994
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 1994 02:15:05 -0700 (MST)
From: Bruce Gingery <lcbginge@antelope.wcc.edu>
To: francis@avalle.insoft.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9312211517.AA20796@avalle.insoft.com>
On Tue, 21 Dec 1993 francis@avalle.insoft.com wrote:
>
> >Or let's take another case. A Canadian judge has prohibited distribution
> >of any information about a particular murder case that happened there.
> >Because his edicts have no effect in the U.S., the Buffalo News has run a
> >full coverage of the story; people bring copies of the paper with
> >them into Canada are having them confiscated at the border.
> >
> >Now, if someone in the U.S. posts messages about that case onto a newsgroup
> >that is distributed into Canada, is a crime committed? Is the person who
> >posts the messages (where it is legal to do so) committing a crime in
> >Canada? Is the person who reads the messages committing a crime? Both?
> >Neither?
>
> How about the people who run the border sites that import the post
> into Canada? It's analogous: in the hardcopy case, it's the people
> that import the papers that get in trouble.
John,
What about the papers that are placed in a box and Posted (via snail
mail) across the border. Who is culpable there? The person who merely
says "papers" in a customs declaration at point of origin, the shipping or
postal services employees who actually do the transporting, or the
recipient who does -- or does not -- know what is in the "box" before
opening. When was a crime comitted there?
Again, the enforcement of the "cat out of the bag" is fire fighting as
enbers drift on the wind. It MAY be necessary, but it's not pretty, nor
in the slightest bit efficient.
If the prohibition was against distribution of information, then it needed
to be enforced AT THE SOURCE -- and preferably at the source only. Once
the "cat is out of the bag", it is awfully hard to get rid of the urine
spread all over the place.
Bruce Gingery lcbginge@antelope.wcc.edu
