Re: NETCOM.COM refuses to act against Anti-Semitism

[Cliff Sloane <cesloane...>]

> >Adrian A. Durlester durleste (at) plains(dot)nodak(dot)edu
> >Production Manager, Festival Concert Hall - North Dakota State University, 
> >Fargo
> >Alternate E-mail: 
> >72507(dot)471 (at) compuserve(dot)com   AdrianD (at) aol(dot)com
> 
> Not sure I completely agree.  Clearly, the government can and should
> not censor speech.  However, Netcom is a private company and can set
> rules and regulations for the conduct of its members.  BBSs routinely
> do so.  Racially offensive remarks seem to me a bright line that could
> be drawn without threat to other kinds of speech.

A recent court ruling on this found that, if a company (such as Netcom) 
makes any editorial decision on postings, then the whole network is a 
publication. Therefore, if Netcom were to prohibit ant-Jewish comments, 
they would be held liable for everything and anything posted.

I, too, support Netcom's decision. They make the forum available. I would 
not want to add to their burden, since there is ultimately no end to it.

Cliff