Re: [Asrg] Anti-spam laws do work, FYI. There's proof.

[der Mouse <mouse at Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>]

> Most telecom laws do not allow the carrier to decide what's allowed
> to happen to a message that has been sent to a person.

Fortunately (in the opinion of most people who have looked at it), ISPs
and NSPs are not common carriers, so restrictions like this that arise
because the telcos _are_ common carriers do not apply.

> Imagine if the post office decided which letters it would deliver.
> Imagine phone companies deciding which calls get through, or which
> faxes get delivered?

And guess what, the post office and the telcos are common carriers (at
least in places where they aren't outright government monopolies).

> The law also is against the ISPs in that their attempts to filter put
> them into the business of publisher rather than common carrier.

But they *aren't* common carriers, whether or not they filter.

As for whether or not they are liable for blocking efforts - that
varies with jurisdiction; some have, I am told (I haven't personally
checked it), enacted laws specifically insulating ISPs from liability
for the consequences of good-faith blocking efforts.

And it's hard to imagine what kind of grounds a suit would be on
anyway.  What ISP promises to deliver _any_ email?  (Not that being
groundless prevents suits in some jurisdictions, to be sure.)

/~\ The ASCII				der Mouse
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