ISPs = "rat spies?"
Here is another FCC/Fed issue we have to pay attention to: At ISPCCON, an annual gathering of Enternet Service Providers, ...ISP owners also were educated on ways of working with the government and given tips on dealing with new regulations that require them to act in ways they feel could compromise their customers' privacy...."I've had two years to read through the 1,016 sections in Patriot [Act] and so far I've gotten through and understood maybe a couple of dozen pages," confessed "Joe," the owner of a small ISP with 3,700 users.
..."But as I've been told this week, any employee of the federal executive branch can contact me and force me to provide access to the electronic communications of any of my customers who may have information relevant to any federal case," Joe said. "And anyone who owns a copyright on anything can also demand info about my users.
So I've essentially been turned into a rat spy. It used to be fun to run an ISP. Now it's all regulations, legal issues and new hidden hassles."
Said Bruce Kushnick, chairman of TeleTruth "It is now time for you to make sure that these regulators and the public know the contribution ISPs have made in bringing the Internet and World Wide Web to the American public so that you can continue to deliver the services and expertise that the monopolies, who want to take over your business, do not offer and have never delivered." I don't know about you, but I like my little local ISP. They're available, helpful, and the phone is never busy. Buy Local!
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