Protecting us from the majority is what the Bill of Rights is all about. I'm sure that the majority of people in the south before the civil war (more US specific points) wanted colored people to be considered property that they could use or abuse. Most of the people in Germany (during World War II) wanted Jews, homosexuals and gypsies exterminated. ISP's just "doing what the majority want" doesn't make it anymore right than any of the preceding examples.

I think the bulk of people here are missing the point of ISP's and common carrier status. If ISP's have the right to determine what use their networks get put to, then they are NOT common carriers and should stop pretending like they are.

The phone companies would have loved to prohibit modem use of "their" networks. They couldn't, why? Because they are common carriers. In fact they complained that modem users were making it dangerous, (for 911 type calls) because they were tying up their lines longer than voice calls. Were they allowed to post an AUP (subject to change without notice of course) that said;

"The use of modems or other data carrying devices is strictly prohibited on <insert name of telephone company> network. Violation of this policy will result in the immediate termination of your telephone service."

Nope. Why? Because they are a common carrier. I think the majority of posters are to hung up on the SPAM and are missing the whole "common carrier = no AUP/censorship" issue.

*sigh*

someone247356_AT_yahoo.com

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/articles/173/5026#5026