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*                                                            * 
*                         CYBERSPACE                         * 
*         A biweekly column on net culture appearing         * 
*                in the Toronto Sunday Sun                   * 
*                                                            * 
* Copyright 1999 Karl Mamer                                  * 
* Free for online distribution                               * 
* All Rights Reserved                                        * 
* Direct comments and questions to:                          * 
*   <kamamer@yahoo.com>                                      * 
*                                                            * 
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Infochill just hot air

The mob is at the gates, ready to take away your right of free 
expression! What? Where? Oh yeah, Compuserve nuked a bunch of 
USENET sex groups. I haven't heard such a big media stink over 
a minor thing since the Michelangelo Virus.

Compuserve is a high-end online system. It has catered to 
corporate types for more than a decade. It's a great system to 
get hardware drivers and program fixes. Because the net is the 
new place to be, Compuserve added Internet access.

Last month German authorities told Compuserve to stop providing 
illegal material through USENET. The way USENET works is 
systems feed each other the latest news. Messages are not mere 
packets that flow from some distant port to your computer using 
Ma Bell and your Internet service provider (ISP) as 
intermediaries. When you read tor.general, for example, every 
nasty little flame you view is read off your ISP's harddrive 
and remains there for several days. Should the cops bust you 
and find illegal material on your harddrive, that it might be 
gone by Friday is no defense. End of story ... almost.

A couple years ago, one Compuserve user didn't like what 
another user had said about his business. In the spirit of 
American justice, the wronged party went after the biggest 
bucks. The person sued Compuserve for "publishing" the 
material. Compuserve won the lawsuit because a judge ruled 
Compuserve was like a bookstore. A bookstore owner cannot be 
held responsible for reading every single book on the shelf for 
possible naughty bits. If that were the case, the average 
bookstore owner would probably only stock one book, a slim one 
with wide margins (Seinfeld?).

USENET is similar. A news feed amounts to megabytes of 
information every day. Sure there might be some illegal 
material on alt.sex.bondage and you could zap that group, but 
people will just post it to alt.test or earth.general or any of 
the more than 10,000 groups. You either shut down all of USENET 
or open the taps and go after law breakers with existing laws. 
To wit, don't get rid of highways to get rid of drunk drivers.

Still, Compuserve did zap numerous sex groups. And management 
went overboard by trashing support groups for homosexuals. But 
they behaved no differently than any one-modem sysop that gets 
wind of possible legal action. Flush the lot and figure out 
where you stand.

Yes, Compuserve has increased Infochill with a 10,000 BTU-
sucking move. But let's look at it the other way. It's a 
bookstore owner's fundamental rights to carry whatever books he 
or she wants to carry. It is as obscene to compel an individual 
or company to sell certain publications as it is to deny them 
the right to sell it.

Stories about spankings and leather aren't part of the white 
collar, corporate image that Compuserve fosters. I can't find 
fault with a company wanting to sell what it wants, when it 
wants. If that's not your cup of tea, find a real ISP. There's 
thousands.