Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/05/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Freedom of expression and responsibility
From: Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>
Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 10:00:56 -0700

Bryan Caldwell wrote:
> 
> As one of the resident attorneys here (ducking . . . <g> ), I need to point
> out that the First Amendment doesn't apply to this list. There are many
> members who are not contributing from the United States, and, even in the
> U.S., the First Amendment protects against government regulation of speech -
> not the negative responses of others. As long as the government is not
> regulating the content of the LUG, the First Amendment does not come in to
> play.
> 
> Bryan
> 
>snip
I was wondering if because of the physical/technical structure of this
group: being an Email Reflectorship we would have some more rights than
a Newsgroup.
A Newsgroup would seem to be a form of broadcasting but we are just a
controlled distribution of E Mails. A group of friends sitting around
talking; or 777 of them.
As there is probably no precedent for trying to prove a libel or some
such case against a discussion in a Email list or even a newsgroup that
makes it hard to determine.
Mark Rabiner