IP: Loudoun County ruling; Gates as Satan; Internet and anthrax

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

*******




http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/afternoon/0,1012,1886,00.html


The Netly News / Afternoon Line
April 8, 1998
   
Ruling on the Knuckles


   It's shaping up to be a lengthy court battle for a Virginia public
   library that's defending Internet filtering. A federal judge yesterday
   ruled that a lawsuit against Loudoun County may continue despite the
   library board's arguments that it may bar access to books or web sites
   for just about any reason at all. That argument was a bit of a stretch
   to begin with, and Judge Leonie Brinkema proved unwilling to
   accommodate its more provocative -- and constitutionally suspect --
   points. A library may not "selectively restrict certain categories of
   Internet speech because it disfavors their content," she wrote. In
   fact, she said, "we conclude that defendants have misconstrued the
   nature of the Internet." Ouch. Brinkema also ruled an obscure portion
   of the Communications Decency Act that protects "interactive computer
   services" from being sued doesn't apply to public libraries -- a
   decision that "is just flat wrong" according to Ken Bass, an attorney
   representing the county. Now that the court denied Bass's request for
   summary judgment, the case can go to trial, which will resolve one
   intriguing question: which sites the X-Stop filtering software truly
   blocks. But Brinkema's order is not all good news for Mainstream
   Loudoun, which sued the county last December. Brinkema decided that
   library board members could not be held personally liable for their
   actions and dismissed them as defendants. Good news for them, not to
   mention considerably cheaper. Local conservative activists have urged
   the county to appeal a now-likely defeat all the way to the Supreme
   Court. --By Declan McCullagh/Washington
   
Dance With the "Devil"


   We're likely to remember this comparison long after the details of the
   Microsoft-Justice Department tussle fade from memory: Is Bill Gates
   Satan? The oft-muttered question arose once again in court papers the
   government filed yesterday. In a 14-page brief, the Justice Department
   took pains to defend a federal judge's appointment of Harvard law
   professor Larry Lessig as a so-called special master in the lawsuit.
   Microsoft has complained that Lessig once compared it to the devil in
   a friendly e-mail chat with a Netscape lobbyist. The government
   replied: "Professor Lessig's inquiry had 'nothing to do' with the
   issues involved in this proceeding. As for the 'tease,' a 'reasonable
   person knowing all the circumstances' would not draw the conclusion
   that Professor Lessig 'equated Microsoft with the devil.'" A federal
   appeals court on April 21 will hear arguments on this and Microsoft's
   appeal of Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's December decision ordering
   the company to uncouple its browser from its operating system. --By
   Declan McCullagh/Washington
      
No Way Out


   "It's the threat of the future," says William Cohen. Is our secretary
   of defense warning of terrorist attacks? Anthrax poisoning? Or just
   undesirables on the Internet? Try all of the above. On NPR's "Diane


   Rehm Show" yesterday, Cohen complained about "terrorist groups" who
   are "developing either a chemical weapon or a biological weapon." Then
   came the zinger: "The use of the Internet, the fact that so much of
   the material is available, is going to present a serious problem."
   Couple this with recent warnings from the head of the Army's chemical
   and biological weapons unit that it's only a matter of time before a
   U.S. city is attacked, and we can only conclude that it's just a
   matter of time before we're moving to Bovill, Idaho. --By Declan
   McCullagh/Washington






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