N9OGL wrote:
No but there IS federal law that do protect ISP from "liability"
including the CDA which states an ISP can not be held liable what their
user post or send. I really suggest you read other laws beside the
court case of Miller V Californmia. Try Verizon Vs RIAA (in Verzion v
RIAA, the US Court of Appeal stated that an ISP is not responsible for
what their users transmit and was not liable for copyright infringment.
citing CDA and the DMCA safe habour provision.

Yes, that's true, as far as it goes. But that is a "blanket"
protection in the sense that the ISP is not expected to monitor
everything that comes through its data stream because that wouldn't be
possible due to the sheer volume of data. However, when something
specific is brought to an ISPs attention the blanket protection is
compromised. When notified of a possible TOS violation the ISP has a
duty to check it out and act if action is warranted. Failure to act on
a specific allegation could expose the ISP to liability for failure to
exercise due diligence.


The problem is however, In Illinois according to my lawyer, a ISP is
consider a public Utlility and is such regulated by the state. Like I
said before when you suggested that I start my own ISP, the reason is
the city limits how many ISP are allowed the town (just like do with
cable) and you have to obtain a permit which cost thousands and
thousands of dollars. Internet here is regulated by both the city and
the state.

That's interesting. I did know that some jurisdictions were beginning
to consider ISPs as public utilities subject to state and local
regulation but I wasn't aware that Illinois was one of them. Sounds to
me like typical politics - make something illegal unless you obtain a
permit, then charge up the arse for the permits. And I would bet that
most of the permits go to large companies who have the financial
wherewithal to bribe the politicians who grant the licenses. Damn
politicians get you coming and going.

That does open a very interesting can of worms, though. Since ISPs in
Illinois are considered public utilities, I would think that it would
be extremely difficult to TOS someone. After all, the electric company
is a public utility and they can't arbitrarily terminate your service
just because they don't like you; about the only thing they can
terminate service for is nonpayment of the bill.