Regulatory solution, not technical, is required [LWN.net]

Regulatory solution, not technical, is required

Posted Jan 3, 2008 8:53 UTC (Thu) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313)
In reply to: Regulatory solution, not technical, is required by dskoll
Parent article: The future of unencrypted web traffic

the problem is that right now the common carrier status of ISPs is very nebulous.

if they should get common carrier status then they need to be neutral about the traffic
passing over their networks (solving the network neutrality problem) and they cannot tinker
with the traffic (solving this problem), but they also cannot be liable for what is passing
over their networks.

if they should not have common carrier status, then they gain the right to tinker with network
traffic, but should then become liable for what's on their network (including the need to
filter out content that is offensive for the people who it are offended)

I don't think any of the ISPs have really looked at the tradeoff, right now they are trying to
play both sides of the fence

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Regulatory solution, not technical, is required

Posted Jan 3, 2008 12:09 UTC (Thu) by copsewood (subscriber, #199) [Link]

"the problem is that right now the common carrier status of ISPs is very nebulous."

Those who deliver snail mail have common carrier status but similar problems arise there. They
are not obliged to carry decomposing organic materials, live animals or hazardous substances.
They are not obliged to carry packages greater than a certain size or weight or combination.
They are allowed to sniff for explosives, narcotics and radioactive materials and xray suspect
packages. You also can't get an unlimited amount of mail into a post box designed for a
certain volume and have to make special arrangements for delivery or collection. The fact that
some but not all illegal packages can be detected by scanning does not make the snail mail
delivery companies responsible for illegal packages which can't be detected.

The nebulousness referred to is because sufficient and comprehensive case law does not yet
exist for much of what goes on in the relatively new ISP industry.

Regulatory solution, not technical, is required

Posted Jan 4, 2008 3:55 UTC (Fri) by dirtyepic (subscriber, #30178) [Link]

They also do not (can not?) stamp advertisements on your parcels or sell information about how
much mail you receive and where it came from to 3rd parties.