[21757] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Lawsuit threat against RBL users
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Roeland M.J. Meyer)
Thu Nov 19 03:05:50 1998
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 23:42:01 -0800
To: Ray Everett-Church <ray@well.com>
From: "Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer@mhsc.com>
Cc: Chris Williams <psion@geekspace.com>, "nanog@merit.edu" <nanog@merit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <199811190418.UAA06878@smtp.well.com>
At 11:16 PM 11/18/98 -0500, Ray Everett-Church wrote:
>>By this philosophy, it would seem that if I were to host the web pages
>>of a company which engaged in unwelcome telemarketing (which I
>>personally find much more offensive than SPAM, and which is no more or
>>less illegal in most states), I would be under an obligation to cease
>>providing service to that company!
>
>Telemarketing is not network abuse. Spamming is network abuse. Moreover,
>it's network abuse that can and often does directly impact the operations
>of the site to which the spam is pointing. Moving from the realm of
>philosophy to the hard, cold facts of contract law, you need to remember
>that in drafting your usage agreement you are the master of the universe
>created therein. You are not only within your rights to prohibit behavior
>affecting your system integrity, some might say you are obligated by your
>duty of diligence to your employer, clients, shareholders, partners, etc.
>If the client doesn't like the contract, they can go elsewhere: the essence
>of the free market. But if your contract doesn't give you the right to
>terminate a spammer, then you need to find a new lawyer.
Actually, I remember that was AGIS's rpoblem, and the day after they got a
new lawyer, Spamford Wallace was toast.
___________________________________________________
Roeland M.J. Meyer, ISOC (InterNIC RM993)
e-mail: <mailto:rmeyer@mhsc.com>rmeyer@mhsc.com
Internet phone: hawk.mhsc.com
Personal web pages: <http://www.mhsc.com/~rmeyer>www.mhsc.com/~rmeyer
Company web-site: <http://www.mhsc.com/>www.mhsc.com/
___________________________________________
Who is John Galt?
"Atlas Shrugged" - Ayn Rand
