At 11:53 PM 12/3/1998 -0500, Scott Lampert wrote:
I don't know about where you live but here in BellSouth land you can call the phone company and block outgoing 900 number calls from your line.
Correct: YOU can ask to have things blocked on YOUR line. The phone company (or ISP) can't do that without YOUR permission. But if (say a CLEC) offers phone services without any 900 services, they have your permission when you sign up. Likewise, YOU can use the RBL to block YOUR mail, and your ISP can use the RBL if you give them permission. Which you do for example (according to US Attorney somewhere), if their service definition includes blocking. The ethics of the RBL and its ability to coerce people and organizations arbitrarily notwithstanding, its existance is probably not illegal. However, that does not mean that it can't be used to illegally block mail by people that don't have permission to block. The idea promulgated by some that a network operator can do whatever they feel like with "their equipment" is plainly wrong. There are laws which govern how that equipment can be used by its owners. The people who feel otherwise seem to be falling into the kook category, so I don't see any point in arguing further. 'Szechuan Death' brings up some good ethical and moral points about the RBL. ORBS is even more arbitrary and unethical. But I'm not sure this is of any operational importance. Hasn't the operational value of this discussion been exhausted? --Dean ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Plain Aviation, Inc dean@av8.com LAN/WAN/UNIX/NT/TCPIP http://www.av8.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++