RE: Eat this RIAA (or, the war has begun?) - Why not all ISPs?

["N. Richard Solis" <nrsolis () aol net>]

I agree.  Many laws require that the intent be examined to determine guilt.
You can't be dinged if your intent wasn't to keep Sony out but to ensure
that you get paid.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nanog () merit edu [mailto:owner-nanog () merit edu]On Behalf Of
Vincent J. Bono
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 3:27 PM
To: N. Richard Solis; David Schwartz; rhealey () onvoy com
Cc: nanog () merit edu
Subject: Re: Eat this RIAA (or, the war has begun?) - Why not all ISPs?



Of course if TRW, Equifax, and that other credit bureau I can never remember
listed Sony as a bad credit risk then virtually anyone could refuse them
service, whether it was true or not.  How's that for ironic.

----- Original Message -----
From: "N. Richard Solis" <nrsolis () aol net>
To: "David Schwartz" <davids () webmaster com>; <rhealey () onvoy com>
Cc: <nanog () merit edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 3:18 PM
Subject: RE: Eat this RIAA (or, the war has begun?) - Why not all ISPs?


> IANAL but I the way I understand the law is that collusion among different
> companies to exclude another company from a particular enterprise can be
> considered antitrust.  In a practical sense, the exclusion must be
> "effective" in that the excluded company would find it impossible to
> compete.  A lot of smaller providers telling Sony to take a hike might not
> meet the definition but all of the large networks getting together to keep
> Soony sans Internet might do the trick.  Once again, IANAL.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog () merit edu [mailto:owner-nanog () merit edu]On Behalf Of
> David Schwartz
> Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 2:59 PM
> To: rhealey () onvoy com
> Cc: nanog () merit edu
> Subject: Re: Eat this RIAA (or, the war has begun?) - Why not all ISPs?
>
>
>
>
> >    Generic question related to this:
> >
> >    Can ISP's arbitrarily refuse to give service to someone who tries
> >    to sign up? i.e. if everyone refused to give Sony service could they
> >    sue on some sort of discrimination/collusion charge?
> >
> >    Do ISP/ASP/*SP's HAVE to provide services if someone knocks on the
> >    door requesting them or can they refuse for any reason what so ever?
> >
> >    Any armchair lawyers, who play one on TV, have the/an answer?
> >
> >    -Rob
>
> As far as I know, yes, any company can refuse to do business with any
> individual or company with very few exceptions. This even applies to
> monopolists, providing their monopoly is legally acquired and they haven't
> entered into any contracts to the contrary. The only exceptions I know of
> involve either true discrimination unrelated to the transaction (such as
> racial discrimination) or life, health and safety issues.
>
> DS