Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 07:10:41 -0500 From: John David Duncan <jddst19+@pitt.edu> To: Steve Howe <Steve.Howe@ice-bbs.net> Cc: Freebsd-Hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: un-ethical isp Message-ID: <32F5D5C1.41C67EA6@pitt.edu> References: <293_9702030127@ice-bbs.net>
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Which version of FreeBSD were you running, just out of curiosity. Supposedly, because of an interesting set of bugs in the pingd, vers 2.1.5 and above are assumed stable vs. the ping-o-death. Anyhow, you have to look at the license that your isp gave you (they gave you a license, right?) when you started using them. If they said anything about the privacy or assumed privacy of your communications, as far as the control of such issues is in the hands of the isp itself, that is, not the insecurity of the isp from outside invasion, but rather the security of your messages vs. the maturity of the provider, then you will certainly have to take that license to a lawyer and find out if there are laws in your state that prohibit the denial of certain express or implied rights that such a license would remove. If there is no material on this subject, then one could say that the isp does not own the messages, they only own the medium, and that they had no right to copy and divert your intellectual property to anyone else but its intended recipient. But this sort of thing has not necessarily been worked out. The US mail, for example, has the right to open and inspect a package for reasons of customs, taxes, dangerous items, or bad addressing, but they don't have the right to, say, divert the package to the govern- ment, then to your boss, then to the freemasonry, then to its recipient. And I think that law, at least, interstate commerce law, prohibits, say, UPS from doing similar things. I am not, also, allowed to tap your wire, or sniff your packets, or whatever. Furthermore, no phone company is allowed to listen in on your conver- sations without the express warrant by a court--despite the fact that, if you live in Pennsylvania like I do (I know you don't), then Bell Atlantic will have your information in one of their exchanges and on the wires that they own. It would not be fair if they were to have that ability. The government is not even allowed to sit on potentially unstable sites, like ftp.freebsd.org, to find out whether the secure and eBones sources are being distributed either purposefully or accidentally into another country, but they do have the right to get a court's warrant to sieze the logs at walnut creek and demonstrate that a copy of DES made it to france. I figure that the same goes for the internet carrier. I don't think that they can imply that by using their smtp server to bounce your messages to others that they suddenly own your messages. They would, by that respect, be able to publish one of your poems, etc. To really screw with them, attach "Copyright 1997 Steve Howe. All Rights Reserved." to all of your messages that you expect to be bounced, and you can hit them with federal copyright infringement allegations (although, in two years, without the copyright being registered, you would lose that right.) If they deleted those lines, they would also pay penalties for perjury.... Oh, so much fun. Just remember, with law, and a good lawyer, you can have just about as much fun as going postal, so don't bother buying the shotgun. -John -- Such opinions are not the intellectual property of NBC. For proof, watch "Dateline/NBC" Steve Howe wrote: > > Dear FreeBSDers, > > because of your excellent OS and superb knowledge, i/we decided to use > FreeBSD in projects for the government subcontracting starting about 2 > years ago. an associate and boss became upset due to their fear of > UNIX and a sort of conspiracy developed ... > > anyway - unbeknownst to me, the owners of my isp (alaska.net) were former > associates this vengeful/ignorant co-worker and boss, and together > (as i came close to finishing a project way ahead of their NT > project) they (isp) engaged in ping flooding all my machines > on my networks, grinding all my work to a complete halt for > a week, and additionally, after tracing the source of the > pinging and sending some nasty email, my isp transferred > all my email i had ever written on my personal/private > account to my boss and co-worker for review, ie, they > were looking for some goodies to get rid of me. > they hired private investigators, etc. but i > was squeaky clean, although things have > become miserable enough to quit. :) > > ANYWAY - my question is, although my lawyer says my isp may be > liable for slander, is there any other recourse i can take for > them giving 2 1/2 years of my email from my personal/private > account to my boss and co-workers? i wouldn't want laws, > but i despise un-ethical behaviour such as this! > > it included health information related to my family, > love letters :), thoughts, etc. all kinds of stuff > you'd never want anyone to see! > > (pgp? - well not everyone i wrote to can use it!) > > thanks ... please mail to hmmm@ice-bbs.net. > a friend/co-worker is allowing me use of this > account as i have no isp currently ... > -- > | Standard disclaimer: The views of the users are strictly their own. > | ICE BBS Network +1-907-346-2371 (ANSI, 28.8k, FREE E-MAIL!).
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