Quote:
Originally Posted by baddog
If your plan is like that, I can understand why you might be concerned if others "leach" on your connection.
[...]
Maybe in Canada, but an Oklahoma Court recently rejected that argument ( last week).
[...]
I am going to venture to say that your definition of "almost" and mine are significantly different. |
I'm too lazy to read the entire ruling, but does it apply to all the US or strictly Oklahoma? Also, regardless of what the law may say, your ISP may think differently. For example, I'm sure ISPs in OK can still cut off your service (without legal action) if it's used against their terms (ie. spam, bandwidth abuse, file sharing, etc).
Also, the ruling appears to apply to copyright violation. I'd be surprised if the same ruling would be upheld when the crime is something decidedly more serious like CP or death threats. Imagine if the courts ruled that if someone used your open internet connection to commit serious crimes such as propagation of CP, that you couldn't be held responsible. OK would quickly become a hot bed of CP distribution.
I say almost because a lot of the same arguments apply. If you left your FTP server open, you'd be subject to people using your bandwidth, slowing down your sites and you'd be open to liability for what ends up on your server.
Forget any other argument. Even if my connection was uncapped and I had zero liability for what my connection was used for, I'd still lock it down. I'm the one paying for it. Why would I let anyone else use it for free? I don't let strangers nap in my bed, eat my food, watch my TV or take a shower when I'm not home. Why would I let someone use my internet connection?