From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Newsgroups: alt.censorship,alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk,uw.general,can.general,ont.general,can.legal,uw.library
Subject: obscenity - Waterloo focused on medium rather than message
Date: 3 Feb 1994 16:22:26 -0500
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Lines: 71
Message-ID: <2irpui$aga@eff.org>

[From a mailing list -cmk]
=================
					January 31, 1994


To:       Deans
          Academic Department Chairs and Directors of Schools
          Academic Support Department Heads

From:     James Downey, President [University of Waterloo, Ontario]

Subject:  Newsgroups on the Internet



Last fall I became aware that certain newsgroups on the
Internet carried material which was almost certainly obscene
and therefore contrary to the Criminal Code. Advice from the
University solicitor was unequivocal: under the Criminal Code
it is an offence for anyone to publish or distribute obscene
material, and the University is running a risk of prosecution
if it knowingly receives and distributes obscene material. In
these circumstances I felt the University had to act to
protect itself.

I am aware, of course, that this is a sensitive area: there
is no precise and agreed-on measurement of where on the scale
of human taste pornography begins. So before taking any
action I wished to assure myself that the course we might
choose to follow was both responsible and defensible.
Following consultations with Matt Erickson, Co-ordinator of
Ethical Behaviour and Human Rights, and the Ethics Committee,
which has responsibility and experience in handling
complaints about computer pornography, I am now authorizing
implementation of the following process:

	Complaints concerning newsgroups which contain material
	considered to be obscene are to be referred to the Ethics
	Committee. The Ethics Committee, with advice from legal
	counsel as appropriate, will make a recommendation to the
	Vice-President, Academic & Provost for the removal of any
	newsgroups it judges to be carrying obscene material. 
	Requests to have a restricted newsgroup reinstated would also
	be handled by reference to the Ethics Committee. Any member
	of the University community requiring access to a restricted
	newsgroup for academic purposes can make application to the
	Vice-President, Academic & Provost.

This approach is, I believe, defensible because a
university's practices cannot be contrary to the law. It is
consistent with recommendations put forward in the Report of
the Advisory Committee on Network News (May 30, 1991),
refining them to address the circumstances of illegal
material not contemplated in that report.

I am mindful of concerns about the principles of free
speech and expression in an academic environment.
Universities, however, are not above the law and their
policies and procedures should not be contrary to the law. It
is important to note that, while the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms provides for free speech, that freedom is subject to
limitations that are deemed to be reasonable in a free and
democratic society. In February of last year, the Supreme
Court of Canada upheld the obscenity provisions of the
Criminal Code as being a justifiable restriction on freedom
of expression in order to protect, in particular, women and
children from the harm of violent, degrading, and
dehumanizing pornography.
-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =