Cable co (MSOs) can show whether or not the traffic came from your connection. Whether or not you requested it is irrelevant. If you bought a car and registered it under your name then gave your car to a friend to go and run into others on the street, aren't you going to take responsibility for it?

Sure, your friend will take some flak but it's still your car. You didn't request he go out and smash up other cars. Same goes for internet. You sign a contract with the MSO and it's under your name. It's your duty to ensure the traffic stays low, your computer is free of viruses that may generate traffic.

BTW, the way they monitor traffic is to look at your specific cable modem. Yes, I work for an MSO and I have to deal with people who download/upload obscene amounts everyday.

Once again, the car analogy. You're driving down the street and park your car, someone sticks a flyer on the car or heck, a squeegy (how do u spell that anyway?) comes up and wants to render you a service you don't want. Do you bitch at the municipal govt? the state/prov govt? or federal govt? Nope.

You take steps to prevent this from happening. Why's it so different once you jump on thei nternet? Why must the MSO babysit you and hold your hand while you surf?

The MSOs do it because it's a good cusotmer service thing to do. In reality, all you're paying for is a connection to the internet and they toss in a few email addresses, personal webspace and a portal. You buy a car, they toss in extended warranty, free gas for a year, whatever. You still have to teach yourself to drive! Teach yourself better internet practices!

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