| Grex > Coop11 > #98: Possible Michigan internet censorship law/challenge |
| response 11 of 111: | 
May 25 17:49 UTC 1999 |
My guess would be that Grex would be considered an Internet Service Provider in some circumstances, but not in others.
If some minor dialed into Grex, then used lynx to access a porn site, then I think this law would protect us.
But if the minor finds some porn in our own sexuality conference, then I would assume that we would be liable. This would be true even if we didn't actually know that they was anything pornographic in that conference or if we didn't know the person was a minor, because we haven't taken any real precautions to prevent minors from logging in or port from being posted.
I'm not at all sure of this interpretation. It's possible that only the person posting pornography in a conference that is plainly accessible to minors would be liable. But even if that is the case, it would have a chilling effect on free discussion here. We'd either have to advise our users that engaging in "adult" discussions here could cost them a $10,000 fine, or we'd have to find a way to validate people before allowing them into "adult" sections of the conferencing system.