[MUD-Dev] re: Real Life Consequences

[Mike Niederer]

I was talking to a friend about the issue of fining people's credit
cards for bug exploiting, and here's his reply; thought it was
noteworthy so I'll pass it on

Regarding the issue listed below concerning imposing a monetary fine
for unsocial behavior, there is no way this could or would be done.  A
company may not, under any circumstances, apply a charge to a credit
card without the consent of the card holder.  Even if the consent was
included in the user agreement, it would be on very shaky ground
legally if challenged because the MUD would have to show a reasonable
cause for such a fine (such as loss of services which is very hard to
prove) in a court of law.  The dollar amount for such a fine would be
so small that it would not be worth the legal expenses to fight it or
the potential for bad publicity.  The option to simply ban
undesirables is the easiest and least expensive option.  Granted, it
may not be the most effective option, but it does get the point
across.

However, if someone was to deliberately cause problems, such as
introducing a virus into the MUD's system, crashing the MUD's servers
or using the MUD to deliver viruses to other users, and there is
documented evidence of such behavior, then there is certainly legal
grounds for fines or even an arrest.  This would have to be on a case
by case basis and not a portion of the user agreement or a blanket
punishment.

Michael Niederer
Security Services
City of Kitchener
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev