The AUP won't have much effect, but the after-effects will. Once the AUP is announced we will get press coverage about it, any new Internet books and articles will point out the rules of conduct on the Internet and mention that breaking the rules could get you kicked out. All this will make people aware that there ARE rules and that spam is not liked. Publicity, publicity and more publicity.
I've seen near zero coverage of RFC 1746, which covers AUP's on the Internet.
Besides, I believe ISOC has been working on a code of conduct for almost a year. I recall reading about it last fall somewhere at http://www.isoc.org
Does it cover the issues listed in RFC 1746? Is anyone at ISOC paying any attention?
Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-546-8022 Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-542-4130 http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com
--bill