On Thu, 22 Aug 2002, Rob Healey wrote:
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?
At my "day job", we routinely refuse service to a large number of people, based on our opinion as to whether the potential revenue stream is worth the expected overheads (labor, bandwidth, etc). It *alway* a *business decision* whether or not sell [a non-protected class] a product. -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------