If you decide to start filtering out SPAM by blocking it from the source, do you end up becoming a content provider because you're controlling what your customers have access to? If that is the case, what legal implications arise ...
I was wondering if anyone was going to trip to this... Full credit, Mr. Shaw!
A recent ruling would seem to be in the ISPs favor: http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/971114/wired/stories/cda_1.html To sum it up: part of the CDA indicates that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider" This woulds seem to indicate that an ISP can not be LEGALLY held accountable for the content published by a customer. (although in the case of UBE, I think the means, more so than the message, is the issue.) I don't think the issue of filtering comes into this at all. Perhaps if there was some way to filter based on usage instead of content, the legal issues would be a little clearer, as one could block off 'offenders' based on thier abuse of your usage policy. Comments? Paul Flores Williams Communication Group