This all started in February 1990 when the Washington University Chancellor's
Office received a letter from an irate individual who claimed that Washington
University was committing a grave offense by making available a collection of
GIF pictures which more-or-less explicitly depicted sexual acts (as implied by
the name of the directory).  The claims included things such as aiding and
abetting sexual harrassment, misuse of resources, unprofessional conduct, and
placing `obviously unethical' individuals in a position of trust.

The reaction of the Chancellor's Office was "Please let us know what is going
on, this must be replied to..."  The ball was passed on the the Office of the
Network Coordinator, which owns and operates wuarchive.  After a long series
of "we don't want to be involved in censorship" statements by everyone involved,
an investigation was launched into the legal ramifications of making such
material available.

What it comes down to is this:

1) Making the material available is perfectly legal, according to the
   University's legal counsel (they cited 1-900 numbers as an excellent
   example).

2) These GIF pictures are hardly the highest priority material in the
   archives, and resources would be devoted to them only as long as they
   didn't interfere with the more valuable services.

3) University personnel were not involved in the maintenance of this section
   of the archives.  The GIF archives are entirely maintained by a student of
   another University.

4) We can't make the material available unless we can show that it has some
   academic or research value.  All sites which join the Internet must sign
   a contract which states, in part, that all use of the Internet will be in
   support of research or education.  It is the feeling that virtually all of
   the material in the archives could be justified except the R_X_rated GIFs.

*ALL* of the people who work with the archives *EMPHATICALLY* do NOT support
censorship in any form.  However, we are bound by the contracts our employers
have signed regarding this matter.

If you are a professor at an institution of higher learning, or a legitimate
researcher, and feel that this material would be useful for your teaching or
research, please send a letter ON UNIVERSITY OR CORPORATE LETTERHEAD to this
address:

    Washington University
    Office of the Network Coordinator
    One Brookings Drive
    Campus Box 1048
    Saint Louis, MO 63130-4899
    USA

If you are a student or individual in a non-academic or non-research position,
PLEASE don't waste our time...  The archivers put a lot of personal time into
keeping wuarchive one of the best archives in the world and we don't appreciate
being called names or spending our time reading junk mail.

Be aware that if you DO write a letter supporting this material, you may one
day be called upon to support your position.  It is a very sensitive issue and
will undoubtedly some day be considered by highly-placed government officials,
and subjected to public scrutiny.

Signed,
The Maintainers of Wuarchive