Thanks to Jerry Zar...

Jim Thomas (jthomas@sun.soci.niu.edu)
Sat, 14 Oct 1995 02:30:08 -0500 (CDT)

Thanks to the TOMPAINER who sent over an article from the October issue of
PERSPECTIVE: The Campus Legal Monthly, which describes some of the
legal quandaries arising for e-communications.

The article briefly discussions Cubby v. Compuserve, in which
Compuserve was ruled not liable for libel damages because it did not monitor
post contents of users. It's interesting that in a similar case, it was
held that Prodigy could be held liable for post contents because they
engaged in systematic screening, so Prodigy remains a defendant in the case.

The article's concluding paragraph:

New communication systems can speed up the exchange of
information, but can also quickly lead to major problems. AVOID
PROBLEMS BY DEVELOPING GOOD POLICIES, PROVIDING APPROPRIATE TRAINING,
AND MAINTAINING AN EFFECTIVE COMPLIANCE SYSTEM (emphasis added).

The U has a flexible and reasonable set of general computer policies.
With just a bit of effort, they could be expanded to include homepages.

jt