It has come to our attention that there are a lot of crazy ideas out there (in every meaning of the phrase “out there”) about the Dinosaur Mailing List and the law. Most of these ideas appear to be held by a very small number of people, but to try to protect all parties, we’ve decided to address some issues publicly.
The relationships among and jurisdictions of the various parties
USC
The list is hosted at the University of Southern California. As noted in the history page, it was moved there in an effort to provide a stable home for it. In order to maintain that stability, we have taken on a silent owner as a sponsor. He and USC's administrators allow the list to remain at USC purely as a public service. The resources required to run the list are the property of USC, and hence USC’s policies officially cover the list’s management. You can see USC’s official statements on mailing list policy here.
The Listowners
Note that USC gives listowners authority to determine what is and is not acceptable traffic for the list: It is the listowner’s responsibility [...] to be the final authority of list content. Although we, the listowners, have utilized democratic principles to define some of the boundaries of discussion, it is our obligation to keep discussions on track, and we take that obligation seriously. For information about how we decide and enforce acceptability, please see the administrative section of the DML web pages. You don’t have to like our decisions or manner of enforcement, but you don’t really have any right to contest them. That is the nature of internet mailing lists (not just the DML; we encourage you to search the web for other statements of list rules and manners of enforcement for comparison). We are always open to reasonable arguments, but we’re not open to any other forms of persuasion.
Note carefully that the list is maintained solely at the discretion of USC and the list’s owners. You do not have any constitutional rights to utilize the list’s resources irrespective of your national citizenship. Many times we have heard people complain that our enforcement of acceptability of list content violates people’s rights to free speech. There are many things that individuals making such claims appear not to understand, but we will mention only two... Speech on the DML is not free. You have no more right to expect it to be free than you have to expect that you can walk into a television studio or newspaper editor’s office and have them broadcast any opinion you express just because you believe you should be allowed to say whatever you want. Secondly it is not monetarily free; it is paid for by the services of USC and the listowners. Your ability to use the list is a privilege graciously provided by USC and the listowners. It is not a right.
As standard policy for internet mailing lists, please note that neither USC nor the listowners are responsible for the content of the messages sent to the list. Our enforcement policies are all after the fact. We do not pre-screen messages, and we do not necessarily endorse any opinions stated within messages sent by others.
The Subscribers
On the other hand, you can be held liable for anything you write. In addition to the sanctions imposeable by the listowners, any e-mail transmissions you send might constitute violations of the laws of the city, county, country, planet, etc. in or on which you live. For some helpful guidelines, please see USC’s statements on implementations of policy. Some of those statements are specific to individuals affiliated with USC, but some are more general. In addition, your own internet service provider certainly has policies governing acceptable use of its resources. You should familiarize yourself with these policies because violations can be used against you. Threatening others, including the listowners, is likely a violation of the contract you signed when you obtained your internet service. Remember that your privilege to access the internet is just that. It is not a right.
Note that one of the points mentioned at USC’s policy implementation site describes what may happen to the content of your messages after they are sent: “In addition, electronic messages can leave a permanent record and, in a network environment, absolute privacy cannot be guaranteed. For these reasons, users should exercise good judgment when composing electronic messages.” Many times we have been approached by people who regretted messages that they have sent, and they would like us to expunge those messages from the archives (more on the archives in a moment). You and you alone are responsible for the content of your messages. Exercise that responsibility judiciously.
Remember that the listowners have the right -- indeed, if your behavior is frequently disruptive, the responsibility -- to ban you from the list forever. The fact that you’ve expressed an idea or opinion through the list does not mean that the listowners owe you the opportunity to continue to use the list’s resources to defend that expression. If you feel it is important for you to be able to use the list, it is your responsibility to be cooperative.
The Archive Sites
There is one archive site under the direct control of USC and the DML listowners. Other archive sites -- primarily the one at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History -- are maintained by those sites independently. Those archives are maintained as public services provided by the sites housing them. We often intercede with the administrator of the CMNH archive, but what is housed there is housed there at the discretion of the CMNH and its employees, subject to its policies, not USC’s generally or of the listowners’ specifically.
With respect to our intercessions... Please note that we view list archives as historical references. Asking us to edit the archives sounds like asking us to shave a process off of a fossil... We do not look kindly on the idea of tampering with data. Consequently we only ask the owners of archive sites to modify the archives under extreme circumstances (for instance, we have asked that viral code or URLs pointing to such code be disabled). Please do not ask us to remove something just because you regret that you sent it. If it helps any, we too have written things we regret, and some such things are in the DML archives. Embrace your humanity and expect that others expect nothing more than for you to be human. But still try to be a good human.
Recap and Summary
You are responsible for what you write to the DML.
That responsibility includes accepting the consequences imposed by the listowners.
That responsibility includes accepting the consequences imposed by your internet service provider.
That responsibility does not get transferred to the listowners, to USC, or to the maintainers of the archive sites both official and unofficial after your writings have been distributed.
You should have no expectation that the list should serve your purposes (whatever they may be); if they do... great! if they don’t... c'est la vie.
© Mickey P. Rowe, 2005 - 2007