[51286] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Eat this RIAA (or, the war has begun?) - Why not all ISPs?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Schwartz)
Thu Aug 22 15:01:25 2002
From: David Schwartz <davids@webmaster.com>
To: <rhealey@onvoy.com>
Cc: <nanog@merit.edu>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 11:59:26 -0700
In-Reply-To: <200208221831.NAA25402@benjy.onvoy.com>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> Generic question related to this:
>
> Can ISP's arbitrarily refuse to give service to someone who=
tries
> to sign up? i.e. if everyone refused to give Sony service=
could they
> sue on some sort of discrimination/collusion charge?
>
> Do ISP/ASP/*SP's HAVE to provide services if someone knocks=
on the
> door requesting them or can they refuse for any reason what=
so ever?
>
> Any armchair lawyers, who play one on TV, have the/an=
answer?
>
> -Rob
=09As far as I know, yes, any company can refuse to do business=
with any
individual or company with very few exceptions. This even applies=
to
monopolists, providing their monopoly is legally acquired and=
they haven't
entered into any contracts to the contrary. The only exceptions I=
know of
involve either true discrimination unrelated to the transaction=
(such as
racial discrimination) or life, health and safety issues.
=09DS
