@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 >From: "Dorothy K. Dean" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Obscenity and Phone Laws I sent Andy a short version of this message and he said that it would have a wide enough application that it should be sent to the list. This details my experience using the existing telephone law to deal with 2 people posting obscene messages to me on my bbs. I have operated an Amiga BBS for 10 years, In that time I learned and used many techniques for discouraging obnoxious callers and callers trying to use my bbs for illegal purposes. Obviously, obnoxious behavior is dealt with less strenuously than illegal behavior. My bag of tricks includes removing the offending message, cautioning the caller, reducing time available on-line, etc. Offensive or threatenning messages directed to me are dealt with by not responding to them and removing them. A few years ago two males invaded my bbs to play Hack & Slash. They also persistently left messages to me that contained obscene material directed at me personally. After a few months of ignoring them, then warning them, they began to leave messages publicly on other bulletin boards in this area. The content of the public messages was as bad as that of the private messages. I contacted the District Attorney after 6 months of this nonsense. The DA agreed that the content was obscene. My complaint first got sent to their computer crimes people even though I had asked about the telephone laws. The computer crimes people agreed with me about sending my complaint to the staff who handle telephone laws. It turned out, not surprisingly, that the 2 males were both juveniles. Their parents were sent letters by the D.A. and came in to discuss the situation. Neither boy could be prosecuted because of their ages. I just wanted them to stop so it didn't matter to me that they could not be prosecuted. The parents were very upset about the messages and I think the kids realized for the first time that the sysop is a real person. I do not want to see the internet restricted by the current proposed legislation on pornography. Maybe we can make an argument that existing laws can be used successfully to go after offenders. Dorothy K. Dean @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore (•••@••.•••) Wexford, Ireland CyberRights co-leader | Cyberlib=http://www.internet-eireann.ie/cyberlib ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
