> Not concerned yet? Well consider this - suppose your web page was
>> hosted on a particular ISP, and suddenly one of the large ISPs took a
>> notion to start blocking access to web sites hosted on selected
>> competitive ISPs. Of course, their solution would be to open an
>> account with them and move your web site to their servers. Now what
>> happens when two or more ISPs do this? Pretty soon the entire
>> Internet as we know it falls apart, and I don't think I'm being overly
>> dramatic in saying that - I have seen just too many examples of
>> corporate greed destroying the good things of life to think that it
>> could not happen that way.
> Most ISPs of reasonable size have figured out that it's not worth it
> to block or deny peering with other providers of reasonable size (of
> course there may be quibbling at the margins). The result of blocking
> is too much grief with customers, who don't care that much about the
> underlying transporter of bits. Blocking = less bits = less money, in
> the general sense. In the 21st century, it's been legal issues that
> have resulted in "stupid acts of site blocking" moreso than anything:
That's what gets me. Last I remember, to qualify as a common carrier, an ISP isn't allowed to exact any sort of traffic control beyond what is necessary to maintain the stability of the network. Anything more and it could be seen as having the ability to control its content, and would be vicariously liable for crimes committed over its infrastructure and services. Isn't that still the case?
Paul Timmins Timmins Technologies, LLC