Protecting your BBS & investment.
Tips on avoiding seizure.
By: Joe Hochstuhl

    In recent months, many of us SysOp's have watched with a
growing concern, the number and reasons government agencies have
seized BBSes and equipment. Most of the problems stem from the
BBS having "Pirated" and "Adult" wares on their Boards. By far,
however, the number of seizures involving Adult oriented subject
matter have been a bigger target.

    If you intended to make pirated software available on your
system, all I can say is, "You deserve what you get". This
article is directed toward the Adult arena of BBSing.

    Government repression of Adult subject matter is a growing
hobby for the nation's "do-gooders". As a rule of thumb, most area
authorities publicly oppose the distribution of Adult materials
in any form within the confines of their districts. So, if you
now run a Adult oriented BBS or intend to run such a system, you
already have "strike one" before you even get up to bat.

    Most SysOp's don't understand the ease in which authorities
can seize your equipment. A case in point is one that was
recently published in Boardwatch magazine. Even though the local
authorities had no real charges to justify the search and seizure
warranty, they raised a question of Child Pornography. That was
all the court needed to hear, and the warranty was issued. Of
course, this SysOp, had nothing of the like on his BBS,
never-the-less, it gave the FBI reason to make the seizure.

    Once your equipment is in the system. A SysOp will have a
very difficult time getting the equipment returned. Even after
the court date, legal fees, and any applicable fines, there is
still a lot to go thru in order to gain the return of equipment
that was involved in a "crime". It is the way our legal system is
set up, and I am afraid no level of legal representation proves
to be much good.

    After studying the pattern and reasons for these seizures
over the past two years, we have compiled a few tips to help a
SysOp guard against arbitrary seizure.

    The first, of course, is protect yourself legally. Make
sure you verify the age of people that you allow access to your
gif scans. Make the appropriate telephone calls, and Keep
recorded documentation on file. This is very important, Courts
like paperwork, without documentation your testimony is reduced to
"I swear your honor, I did call them to be sure." Which pure and
simply, isn't going fly. This is a important step, but as
mentioned above, it is not always enough.

    From the pattern of seizures, one thing becomes clear. 98.8%
of all seizures for Adult subject matter originates in your local
area. It is far easier for someone to commence action against a
local SysOp than to do the same to a SysOp who lives a few
counties away. From this, I would advise keeping your Adult user
base limited to long distance users only. Don't even accept local
applications unless you know them personally. This step alone
will greatly reduce your risk.

    And the final piece of advise comes from a experiment on the
west coast. At first I wondered about the legality of this one,
but after doing some research, found this to be on the up and up.
Because of the ease in which a warrant can be issued it has been
proposed to set up a relay point for your callers. For example.
Make arrangements with someone you trust in your home town (local
call to your BBS). Set up a telephone number there equipped with
call forwarding. Then pass out this number for All of your BBS
users to call. Of course, when the phone call hits this
telephone, it will be redirected to your BBS location.
Additionally set up all correspondence to reflect this other
address, or better yet, get a P.O. Box. And keep this whole deal
to yourself. The experiment I spoke of even went as far as to
place a cheap old 8088 at this other location. If you wind up being
the target of some ill conceived raid. the Raid will be at this other
address (as long as you have keep the whole thing to yourself).
And the authorities will walk away with a useless 8088 instead of
the equipment you spent the last 5 years building. Keep in mind,
the authorities are not stupid, they will soon realize that they
do not have the BBS and will get another warrant issued in short
order. But by this time, you will have been well notified, and
have the time to take the appropriate precautions.

    In closing, let me say that will the way the current legal
system operates, the whole question of BBSing has become "SysOp
Beware". So it is up to you to protect yourself. Be aware of the
regulations in your community, and use your head when make
distribution decisions.

                                                --> Joe
