Sender: |
|
Subject: |
|
From: |
|
Date: |
Wed, 6 Jan 1993 14:37:39 +0100 |
In-Reply-To: |
Message of Wed,
6 Jan 1993 08:25:28 EST from ListServ list owners
<LSTOWN-L@INDYCMS> |
Reply-To: |
|
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
I really don't see the point in having this discussion. On the one hand
it is clear that there are cases where anonymous postings are desirable
(socio-psychological studies lists with topics such as rape or incest -
and don't you tell me that people who have been raped by their father at
13 should have the courage of speaking up under their own name or shut
up). You may not want (or have time) to moderate a list just because some
of the topics are sensitive. So one cannot go to the people who run the
anonymous servers and tell them they are doing something evil with no
value to the serious users out there. And, of course, in the same way I
am not responsible for the contents of messages transiting through SEARN,
the people who run these servers are not responsible for the contents of
the anonymous messages. They might accept to ban a particularly offensive
user, but they certainly can't control or police what is being said on a
regular basis.
So the issue rests with the anonymous alias servers. Some will be run by
reasonable people who will be open to reasonable suggestions, such as
putting some field in the header that one could filter on if anonymous
messages are not wanted on a particular list. But the Internet being the
anarchy that it is, there is absolutely no way you will prevent abusive
people from posting anonymously. I would be extremely surprised if the
anonymous alias server was not available via anonymous FTP for anyone to
run on his clickstation as he sees fit. It is a trivial operation to
delete a line to remove any identification the software might have
originally added, or to change the pattern of the usernames. The day you
have 200 such servers running here and there, there will be absolutely no
way you can maintain a working list of all the sites to filter, nor will
you be able to get the unauthorized ones to shut down - in the 2-3 days
it will take for your mail to the site postmaster to be answered and
acted upon, 5 new servers will have been opened and 2 will have closed.
This is simply a lost battle.
Eric
|
|
|