Legal issues concerning VNSA

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Ninh Tran wrote:

> I'm concerned with the legality of the recent bannings,   
> specially in the context of the laws of the host country in which the   
> matters are being conducted, in this case, the laws of the US. My   
> concerns regard the following issues:
> 
> 1. Whether VNSA is considered a private medium?
> 
> 2. Can a forum operating on a state-subsidized facility (the University   
> of Washington) disregard the laws of the state, and of the US?
> 
> 3. By the international nature of the Internet, which country has   
> jurisdiction over matters of concern.

Please see the answers below:

1) On the matter of free speech:

Perhaps no one can say it better than a VNSA member whose information on
free speech I quoted below. I completely agree with what he said.
This is essentially also what I know and my lawyer friend said. 

----------------------------------- 
The US Constitutional guarantee of
free speech has always applied only to the many levels of government and
to government agencies, institutions, and (to a large extent) to any
government-funded or sponsored programs. The guarantee of free speech is
not now and never has been applicable to to any other forum (online or
offline), nor to any voluntary group or association.  It is up to
individuals to choose whether to participate in a Forum (or not) based on
its character and its membership and its rules - it is NOT up to anyone to
insist or require a non-government Forum bend its rules to their liking.
FYI, it is property rights and freedom of association which are the
applicable principles in this situation, and they guarantee the rights of
both the list owner and the Admins to make the decision they made.  And
the rights of members to stay or leave as they see like. 
------------------------------------

2) On the matter of setting up VNSA:

Many US universities allow the use of certain university resources for
activities aiming at promoting academic advancement, be it anywhere and
for any group in the world. We took advantage of this university
regulation. We talked and got permission from the university to set up a
mailing list for Vietnamese students and researchers abroad.  The list is
understood as a place for such people to gather, discuss social as well as
academic topics, make connections, networking, and initiating activities
aiming at helping Vietnam academically and socially. 

The university regulations concerning mailing lists states essentially
that list owners have the rights to regulate the list, admit and expel
members as they see fit, in order to have the list function as it is
intended.

So:

VNSA ia a semi-private forum in a sense that list policy and policy
enforcement are devised and carried out by the list owners (read: admins).

VNSA has been and will be operated within the context of the US laws.

When we refer to the VNese laws on VNSA, it should not be understood as
Vietnam having the right to enforce its laws on VNSA. No such things! It
should be understood as VNSA list owners (admins) devised a VNSA policy
which incorporates the VNese law concerning spreading propaganda materials
against the Vietnamese governments. This law was incorporated to protect
those with Vietnamese passports on VNSA.

Hai.