Court Rules UT Can Block Online Dating E-mails
Thursday, 11. August 2005 - 1:08 pm
ASSOCIATED PRESS — Aug 3 — White Buffalo Venturesappealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals saying it had
complied with anti-spam laws and argued that the University of Texas
violated its rights by filtering out 59,000 e-mails in 2003. The 5th
Circuit panel found that the federal anti-spam laws do not pre-empt the
university's policy and that the policy is permissible under the First
Amendment. The Austin-based service had legally obtained the
addresses from the university, but the university started blocking the
e-mail messages saying White Buffalo was part of a larger spam problem
that had crashed the computer system. UT issued a cease and
desist order, but White Buffalo refused to comply. So UT blocked the
e-mail messages. RELEASE @ HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Mark Brooks: Shouldn't the students decide?