BAD NEWS :( Government amendments reinforce Big Browser

[Charles Lindsey]

	On Mon, 12 Jun 2000 15:43:42 +0100 (GMT)
	Quentin Campbell <Q.G.Campbell@newcastle.ac.uk> said...

> In the case of messages to a mailing list, the "signalling" to the
> "apparatus" is again done by the message headers, but this time it is the
> envelope "To" header that is the key. The body of the message is not
> involved in any way in determining who the new recipients are and is
> simply copied and re-sent to the new recipients. Thus again no problem.
> BUT ...
>  
> ... a problem arises with mailing list software on MTAs that accepts
> commands such as "subscribe", "unsubscribe", "list", etc, as a text string
> by itself in the body of the message. In this case the "signalling" to the
> "apparatus" is being done by the body of the message (the "content") as
> well as the message headers so in this case the whole message, headers +
> body, appears to be "communications data" by the definition implied in the
> amendment. 

I think majordomo may be part of a communications system when it is
forwarding mail to a list. I have no problem with that bit of it.

But when majordomo is itself the endpoint of a communication (e.g.
for subscribe/unsubscribe, or to pass messages to the list owner),
than I would argue that it is acting as a database (just like a web
server is) and thus not part of the telecommunications system. But that
argument stands on the assumption that the end points are not part
of the telecommunications system, and I have niot yet heard how the
amendment to that effect fared in the Lords this morning.

Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Email:     chl@clw.cs.man.ac.uk  Web:   http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl
Voice/Fax: +44 161 437 4506      Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave, CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K.
PGP: 2C15F1A9     Fingerprint: 73 6D C2 51 93 A0 01 E7  65 E8 64 7E 14 A4 AB A5