[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: *Tesla list survey form is ready*




From: 	Alfred A. Skrocki[SMTP:alfred.skrocki-at-cybernetworking-dot-com]
Sent: 	Sunday, November 30, 1997 6:59 AM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: *Tesla list survey form is ready*

On Sunday, November 30, 1997 4:02 AM Barry Benson
[SMTP:Benson_Barry%PAX5-at-mr.nawcad.navy.mil] wrote;

> Hi D.C. Cox, All,
>      Considering your concerns I wonder how all of the publishers of 
> experimentalist type books and magazines (Popular/Radio-Electronics) survive 
> this problem?  Could the disclaimers included in these book and magazine 
> articles be sufficient for our purposes?  Can a library be sued for 
> providing dangerous information?  Why not?

Barry over the years there has been a general thrust in the judicial system 
to "protect people from their own ignorance", the result has been more and 
more irrational laws making people responsible for what others do with 
their products and information no mater what precautions are taken. A 
perfect example is the "attractive nuisance laws", you can have a swimming 
pool and surround it with a fence including the top, cover the fence with 
keep out and danger signs and yet if some teenagers came along with bolt 
cutters and cut a hole in your fence, went into your pool and got injured, 
you would be held TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE for their injuries. In the case of 
the periodicals you mentioned, I don't think anyone ever got seriously 
injured building any of their projects and that is why they have never been 
sued. In so far as a library being sued, no to the best of my knowledge 
there is no legal precedence for that! But a publisher or author in theory 
could be held responsible for what they publish or write. There have been 
many publishers and authors that have produced works that were totally 
destructive and deviant in nature for example books on the manufacture of 
drugs or things like "The Anarchists Cook Book" which could not possible 
be interpreted except to be used for illegal purposes YET the authors and 
publishers of this type of material have never been sued or held 
responsible for the damage they have contributed to ( in the case of "The 
Anarchist's Cook Book" the death of thousands of people including those 
who died in the Oklahoma bombing)! The argument has been that the 
information was provided for either entertainment or to satisfy 
intellectual curiosity and that it was the decision of the reader to apply 
or not to apply the information. So as you can see the law has been 
applied irrationally on both sides of the argument, this makes it almost 
impossible for anyone including lawyers to protect themselves for you have 
no way of knowing how a possible law suite would be interpreted. On one 
hand it would seem an incredible infringement on ones freedoms not to be 
able to publish information about all  types and sizes of Tesla coils, on 
the other hand, one does have some responsibility not to make it easy for some 
kid to electrocute him/her self or others through ignorance or intent. I am a 
member of a number of medical and chemistry oriented lists that have 
archives containing extremely dangerous material and all such lists present 
the archives in such a way that ONLY APPROVED MEMBERS OF THE LIST CAN 
POSSIBLE ACCESS THE MATERIAL. This may be a viable option for the Tesla 
coil database as well. BTW I am NOT a lawyer but I did audit quite a few law 
courses back when I was in college.

                               Sincerely

                                \\\|///
                              \\  ~ ~  //
                               (  -at- -at-  )
                        -----o00o-(_)-o00o-----
                           Alfred A. Skrocki
                   Alfred.Skrocki-at-CyberNetworking-dot-com
                             .ooo0   0ooo.
                        -----(   )---(   )-----
                              \ (     ) /
                               \_)   (_/