At 6:36 PM -0500 7/12/00, Mike Nolan wrote:
>Regarding copyright, my own attorney has advised me to have consistent and
>appropriate disciplinary policies in place for any copyright violations,
>along with a stern warning against copyright and trademark violations.
this is what I do (and have always done). My new list rules
explicitly say that if you do this, you're responsible for it, also.
which may not help on legal liability, but makes it clear what *my*
intent is. On the other hand, I don't consider simply saying "it's
your fault" is a sufficient policy, because unless you police it,
you're implicitly approving it.
IMHO, as a layman, I think if you have an anti-copyright policy in
place, the liability for an instance of violation lays on the poster,
but if someone can show a pattern of violation or a tolerance of a
chronic violator, then admin will be found liable, too.
>As a result, I have announced sanctions include suspension of posting
>privileges for a few days for a first offense, with stronger sanctions
>for repeat offenders. I've not had to sanction anyone more than once.
Most offenders simply aren't thinking. Policy or no, they just push
the button. I rarely have repeat offenders, because once I'm done
educating them, they *do* think, and sometimes have to rub their bum
from the strap... (virtual strap, of course).
>Mike is also of the opinion that libel is defensible on the Internet
>by the offering of an equal opportunity to refute any charges. The one time
>I've had someone threaten me in this regard, I offered him such an opportunity
>and he both declined to pursue it and did not take any legal action.
I like that, sort of. I wouldn't want to be the schmuck paying the
bills to set the precedent, though. In the couple of cases where I've
had problems, I've basically offered them the opportunity to post
their side, or have me post it for them. They haven't taken me up on
the offer. I also in one case told them that I'd simply have to go to
their employer and try to get them fired before they could sue me,
since they were silly enough to threaten from a corporate account,
and that made them back off the bluster and start talking, and we
were able to work the issue out as moderately mature adults (this
person is (or since he's since been fired) was a public figure, a
legitimate topic of discussion for the list, and not well liked (or,
frankly, all that good at what he did), and got tired of the
criticism. Some of which was admittedly overboard, but mostly
deserved. It would have been an interesting case to watch, but not be
part of...
--
Chuq Von Rospach - Plaidworks Consulting (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Apple Mail List Gnome (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
and say 'Man, what are you doing here?'"
