Under my skin

Gonz

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
The more I think about it, the more this bugs me.

Verizon AUP said:
2. Verizon reserves the right to deny Service to you, or immediately to terminate your Service for material breach, if your use of the Service or your use of an alias or the aliases of additional users on your account, whether explicitly or implicitly, and in the sole discretion of Verizon: (a) is obscene, indecent, pornographic, sadistic, cruel or racist in nature, or of a sexually explicit or graphic nature; (b) espouses, promotes or incites bigotry, hatred or racism; (c) might be legally actionable for any reason, (d) is objectionable for any reason, or (e) in any manner violates the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy.
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Granted, Verizon has every right to word their contract any way they deem fit. We, the consumer, have the right to ignore it. That is not the issue.

The issue is, whether our lawyers & PC mentality has taken us so far that we can no longer speak freely. Comcast adds the line but not the obligation to its TOS agreement. It doesn't seem like much but in the world of lawyers, politicians & pissed off ex-spouses (or neurotic neighbors) it means a great deal.

Imagine Leslie & I, polar opposites, in a pissing contest over things we've said right here in this forum. If she were a Verizon customer I could email them & they are obligated to end her service. Under the Comcast TOS, they'd agree that I am a hard headed egomaniacal jerk with bad manners but, in reality, I threatened noone so she just ought to ignore me.

This ties in with things like "as an employee of XYZ Corp, anything you say, in the workplace or elsewhere that reflects badly on the company is grounds for termination".

What happened to free speech?
 
Gonz said:
What happened to free speech?
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It died some time during the Reagan administration (not an assigment of blame, just a chronological referent). The PC nazis have been increasingly limiting what you're allowed to say ever since. Welcome to Amerika.
 
As it crept into our daily lexicon & now enters our legal aggreements, I fear, more than ever, the sun may be setting on the grand experiment.
 
i dont see it so much as a PC problem but more with the overpopulation of lawyers.IMHO, the chances of the company enforcing those rules are slim. the chances of them getting sued because their TOS isnt worded like that is far far greater.
if we thinned the lawyer herd, i believe most of this PC nonsense would go away.
 
Spot said:
if we thinned the lawyer heard, i believe most of this PC nonsense would go away.
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Okay, where do we start now that Johnny Cochran's dead?
[Pedanticman]herd[/Pedanticman]
 
You're 100% right Spot. However, as long as that paragrapgh & its many openended clauses remain, free speech on the internet is limited, if not dead.

The company may not chose to enforce the rules. But, by their very existence, they are obligated to do so, especially if someone complains.
 
Gonz said:
However, as long as that paragrapgh & its many openended clauses remain, free speech on the internet is limited, if not dead.
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potential to be limited/dead, yes. in reality, i dont see that happening. they can write whatever clauses they wish, but i dont remember any issues going before the courts that have struck down any forms of free speech.
 
Nope. The courts would say it's a legal agreement & you entered into it freely & are obligated to follow the rules so they'd turn it down.
 
I could see if that pertains to any free webspace they provide, or email accounts ,but to have your account pulled for surfing habits seems a tad "odd".
 
So, Gonz, ready to talk about tort reform yet? Let's remember, this is allllll about the fear of getting your assets sued off.
 
Sorry...but to me it seems more like a way for Verizon to kick someone off their service if it's found that they are harrasing someone, sending SPAM, or doing illegal things with their web access. Without this, anyone can do anything that they damn well please, including storing kiddie porn on their web-space and Verizon can do SFA about it.
 
Nope. It's so that Verizon can kick the person off and then say, "Hey, we did something about it! You can't sue us!" Illegal is illegal, and thus prosecutable through the justice system. This stuff is a tort defense, pure and simple.
 
Damn Bish, you're ready for the UN to take over the internet aren't you?

AB has it. If one were asking Verizon to host a website on their servers, I could see these rules. That puts them, as recent court rulings have proven, at jeopardy. However, using them as a portal service to the larger world wide web, as all ISPs are used, doesn't increase their potential for litigation. It makes thema gateway. Imagine if a paper manufacturer had a warning on its packaging similar to this. Would you buy that paper? It's the same thing.

I don't think we need racist hatemongering bigots. I will fight to the end to defend the right for those individuals to be so though.
 
Cox has similar for residential.
# Prohibited Activities. You may not use the Service in a manner that violates any applicable local, state, federal or international law, order or regulation. Additionally, You may not use the Service to:

* Conduct, participate in, or otherwise facilitate pyramid or other illegal soliciting schemes.
* Take part in any fraudulent activities, including impersonating any person or entity or forging anyone else's digital or manual signature.
* Invade another person's privacy, stalk, harass, or otherwise violate the rights of others.
* Post, transmit, or disseminate content that is threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory, incites hatred, or is otherwise offensive or objectionable.
* Restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person to use or enjoy the equipment or the Service, including, without limitation, by posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a virus, lock, key, bomb, worm, Trojan horse, cancelbot, or other harmful feature.
* Collect or store personal data about other users.
* Use an IP address not assigned to you.
* Violate any other Cox policy or guideline.
* Resell or redistribute the Service to any third party via any means including but not limited to wireless technology.
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I think the only stipulation for our commercial circuit is no adult content. But then again, what is adult content in the lawyers dictionary?
 
You agree not to upload, transmit, distribute, establish means of uploading, transmission, distribution, or otherwise publish (collectively "Post") through any Service, any material that is:
  1. Libelous, defamatory, excessively obscene or abusive, or an invasion of privacy;
  2. Pornographic, sexually explicit, or fully or partially revealing of a private body part, including but not limited to, buttocks, penises, female breasts or nipples, vaginas, or pubic hair;
  3. An infringement of the intellectual property rights, including, but not limited to, copyrights and trademarks, of any person or entity;
  4. Illegal or advocating illegal activity, as stated by the laws of the State of Indiana, the United States of America, and the laws in effect over the location the Post is being sent from;
See our own AUP

It's a PYOA. Protect oneself and give oneself the tools to get rid of those who break the law or destroy your reputation.
 
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