On Sun, Aug 13, 2006 at 09:11:58PM -0700, David Schwartz wrote:
Your argument is similar to a mall that claims they can shoot people who don't buy anything. After all, their only obligation is to those who pay them. But of course neither you nor they can do that. By setting up a network and connecting it to the Internet, you know that you will sometimes carry packets that are neither from nor to someone with whom you have a contract. Those are not your packets, and you have no contract with their owners, but you handle them in the ordinary course of your business, so you have a variety of tort obligations to them.
Whatever you're smoking, you've really gotta share some with the rest of us. :P I guarantee you that there is not a single packet that I will route which is neither from nor to someone I have a contract with. If you want to give away free service to people without contracts that is your right, but I sure as hell don't have to.
The same would be the case if I used FedEx to return something of yours to you. If they destroyed your property, you would have a claim against them even though you didn't pay them for anything.
Packets are not property, there is no intrinsic value in returning them to sender. Plus I guarantee you if you drop off a package with Fedex and don't pay for it (thus entering into a contract with them for services), they will eventually throw it in the trash rather than deliver it.
Of course, you can protect your own network. Just as FedEx can destroy a bomb if someone tries to ship it through them. But you cannot do whatever you want with "your packets" unless they really are your packets.
The only thing you probably CAN'T do is take someone else's packets that were sent to you (either under contract or not) and sniff or alter them for the purpose of doing something Bad (tm) with the data (probably because said bad activity is already convered under some existing law, e.g. no extorting people, no impersonating others, etc). -- Richard A Steenbergen <ras@e-gerbil.net> http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)