Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:28:43 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>,
        WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: New list (was Re: This list is... )
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

At 2/13/2006 11:02 AM, dicconf wrote:

>Yahoo is acting less like an Agent than like a Fawning Acolyte.  Pecuniam
>non olet?  But it sure is smelly in this case.

In the USA, if a court ordered Yahoo, or any other list provider, to turn
over the contents of some or all messages, they would do so.  I suspect
that if Keith got a court order to do that with this list, he'd
comply.  He's very careful about keeping things legal, and a court has the
authority to subpoena such things as part of a case it is hearing.  It's in
the Constitution (6th Amendment, for instance).

If someone has knowledge here in the USA of a crime being committed, they
are obligated to alert the authorities.  To fail to do so can make one an
"accessory after the fact", and that's a crime.  I can pretty much
guarantee, for instance, that if you set up a child porn site on a US ISP's
servers, and they notice, they will be contacting the police about it, and
making info about you available...and it probably won't require a court order.

 From what little I've heard of the Yahoo thing in China, the situation
there was very similar.  Only the laws are different.  Yahoo operates in
China (over a billion potential customers are a big draw for many
industries), and therefore is subject to China's laws, just as they are
subject to our laws here.  The fault in the cases sited lies with the laws
of China, not so much with Yahoo's compliance with them.  They had a choice
between criminal behavior or not doing business in that country...same as
here or anywhere else they operate.

That's one issue with using Yahoo of course...your information (address,
name, posts) could be saved on a server in another country where the laws
are very different and what you post may constitute a crime.  There may
even be an extradition treaty with that country.  Given how insane the
laws, and lawmakers, are in some parts of the world, this should be a real
worry.

-- Mike B.
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