Book Review: SYSLAW: The Sysop's Legal Manual

by J. D. Abolins  

SYSLAW, the Sysop's Legal Manual by Jonathan D. Wallace Esq. and Rees
Morrison Esq.; LLM Press, 150 Broadway, Suite 607, New York, NY 10038;
Copyright 1988. Price: $19 plus $2 postage (New York residents, include
8.25% sales tax.)

As the title says, SYSLAW is a guide to the legal issues faced by computer
bulletin board system (BBS) systems operators (SysOps). After examining the
current selection of computer law books, I believe that SYSLAW is the only
book that deals with BBS's and computer law. It is good that such a book is
available since the past few years have presented legal issues that can
threaten BBS's as a current Indiana lawsuit well demonstrates. Fortunately
for SysOps, this book is packed with useful, practical information written in
standard English.

Both of the book's authors are computer-literate New York City attorneys. Both
are SysOps. Jonathan Wallace is the Assistant SysOp of Compuserve's Law Forum
and the SysOp of the LLM BBS. Rees Morrison is the SysOp of ABFORUM, the
portion of the American Bar Association's ABA/net for the Economics of Law
Practice Section. Jonathan Wallace has dealt directly with computer law issues
by representing SysOps, and parties suing pirate BBS's. Mr. Wallace also
publishes the Computer Law Letter, a "shareware" newsletter about computer law.

SYSLAW covers subjects such as ownership of information on a BBS, illegal
material posted on BBS's, libel, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
(ECPA), and search and seizure of BBS's. It also includes the texts for the
ECPA and New York State's Computer Crime Law. At first glance through the
book, many SysOps will be stunned by the array of legal issues facing them
(especially if they thought of themselves as little deities in their own
microcosm.) But the purpose of SYSLAW is anything but to discourage SysOps.
It matter-of-factly presents the legal matters and then explains the
safeguards SysOps should take. One section of the book even addresses BBS
program developers, giving them suggestions how to make their software legally
safer. (This is something that has been neglected by most of the existing BBS
software.)

A great feature of SYSLAW is its presentation of the reasoning behind some
of the legal issues. In discussing a SysOp's liability for illegal uploads
on his/her BBS, the book explains the principle developed from liability
lawsuits against grocery stores- the "banana peel on the floor" concept.
One is not liable for the harmful condition being there unless one failed
to correct the situation with a reasonable period of time. This and other
such details are quite enlightening.

Anything that is lacking in this book is not due to negligence on the part of
the authors but due to the vast territory of computer law. For example, the
book's section on state computer laws focus mainly on New York State laws and
nothing about other states.. There is no mention of legal issues affecting
international computer telecommunications either. Again, this is not the
fault of the authors. As the introduction to the section about state computer
laws say, "It would require a book several times the size of this one to
analyze computer crime laws of all fifty states." Hopefully, future books
can fill in the gaps.

It must be mentioned that no book, even SYSLAW can be considered as a
substitute for competent legal counsel in certain situations. The purpose
of the books is to educate the reader, not to act as a "paper attorney".
(However, SYSLAW has a chapter explaining how to seek competent legal
advice and related matters.) With this disclaimer said, I advise any SysOp
to get a copy of this book. Even many BBS users will benefit from it. The
BBS world is advancing rapidly. With the new technologies come new versatility
and more power. With all this comes new responsibilities. Ignorance of these
legal responsibilities is foolhardy. SYSLAW is an excellent introduction to
these responsibilities written with the SysOp in mind.

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[First submitted to THE LOST CLUSTER NEWSLETTER]
   J. D. Abolins  
   301 N. Harrison Streeet; # 197 (mail only)
   Princeton, NJ 08540

Source: LLM BBS (212) 766-3788
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