A JUDGE has ordered a Seattle man to stop posting to a skiing discussion
group on the Internet after a six-month flame war developed into threats of
violence.
Scott Abraham and several others had been involved in a long-running feud,
both on the Usenet newsgroup rec.skiing.alpine and sometimes in person on the
slopes. The battle started with an argument over free ski-lift tickets, and
escalated to a flame war with insults, personal attacks and offers to fight.
Later an anonymous poster threatened to shoot Abraham, who responded that he
had started carrying a gun. Two of Abraham鈥檚 opponents filed complaints charging
him with harassment. And on 12 November, a district court judge ordered Abraham
not to contact the defendants or post anything to rec.skiing.alpine.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco civil rights group,
argues that the order is too broad. 鈥淪aying he can鈥檛 put anything on that group
is too expansive,鈥� says Shari Steele of the foundation. She says it would be
acceptable to ban Abraham from e-mailing certain individuals or posting comments
directed at people who brought complaints, but banning him from posting anything
on the site violates his freedom of speech.
