You need to keep in mind, Sr. Solari, that NSF (National Science Foundation)
is pulling out of the Internet and turning it over to commercial concerns.
Given that, you can only expect things to get worse.
 
What can you do?  You can try to make access to your list so restricted
that undesireables can't get in.  Problem with that is you can't
achieve 100% security, but you can so severely restrict your list that
it, for most purposes, dies.
 
You can have a clearly stated policy that the members of your list retain
copyright to their postings and no redistribution without permission is
allowed.  The rub there is that to make that stick you have to be willing
to file infringement suits when you learn of violations.  Expensive and
time consuming, but we really do need some good lawsuits about this sort
of thing so we have some court decisions as guidance.  Right now it's
rather a quagmire.
 
Your mention of taxpayer money reminds me of something I've been wondering
about for some time but have never seen anyone mention, that I recall.
Most of the sites that provide homes to lists are state supported
universities.  Most states forbid the use of state property for private,
monetary gain.  Perhaps the states could go after these people for misuse
of state property.
 
Presently, and for some time to come, all you can really do, short of a
lawsuit, is restrict access to the extent you and your list are comfortable
with and have a clear policy on this sort of thing (we're struggling with
that ourselves right now) and do your best to enforce it.  Until someone
with the money and time starts filing suits and seeking restraining orders
there's nothing you can do if you have determined pirates.
 
Of course, if you *know* who the pirates are you can always put in a filter
in your header to block them.  But they can always go somewhere else and
get new addresses.
 
        Douglas Winship    Austin, Texas    [log in to unmask]
                    Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner