Memorandum

December 20, 1999


To:      Roger Watt, IST

Copies:  Jay Black, Lois Claxton, Matt Erickson, David Johnston

From:    Jim Kalbfleisch, Vice-President Academic & Provost

Re:      Newsgroups 


In 1994, following legal advice and recommendations form the Ethics
Committee, it was decided that five newsgroups would no longer be imported
by the University of Waterloo.

The relevant criminal law has not changed since 1994. However, it has
become much clearer that the University would be very unlikely to face
criminal charges simply for allowing access to such materials through UW
facilities. We could not be expected to filter out all of the potentially
obscene material now available over the Internet.

The special measures to prevent importation of the five newsgroups do not
serve a useful purpose and should therefore be discontinued.


                                      (signed)
                                      Jim Kalbfleisch