North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: NYT on Thing.net
Well, I was (still is) a member of the Swedish Operator Forum, and I was part of making the decision on behalf of KPNQwest. I think I know what happened as well as anyone else does. But this is off-topic for this list.Just for the record, your story above is far from complete and not true The question was not if the content was "nasty" or not. The question was that there was a web-site that urged people to take to violence to a politician that had tried to work against the neo-nazis. There where several court cases (and I think it's still being discussed) that all came to different conclusions. This I don't know the details of.have got shot down by public opinion. There was quite a lot of press articles on how horrible it was that these neo-nazi sites (which is what they where) was allowed to be on the Internet without action from the providers.A court deemed it nasty but legal. Whom are the ISP's to go against a court decision? But to the point, just because a site is legal, do I need to host it? I think not. What if all customers then decide to leave? I would be forced into bankruptcy. If a company don't generate money they won't be around to protect freedom and civil acts.Well, I can also see clear business reasons as to why I would deny a Also, most companies are actually only in it for the money, and the small customers own shares in the company and expects them to earn as much money as possible. Few ISPs are driven out of devotion and good faith. This is a political statement and actually that is where this discussion is going. I suggest we move this off-list if we are to continue.It is *not* a free market. Imagine AOL blocking Greenpeace. Is this stillYes? See my example above. I see no conflict in this. It's called a free market. Notice that you are located in a country with a very different base of ethics and a much more liberal view on most things compared to the Nordics. The web-sites at Flashback that was "nasty" would most likely have been illegal in Germany and a subject for the Constitutional court in Karlsruhe.This will otherwise open the pandoras box you describe, where you would have to judge what is illegal political content, child porn, etc.In our 7 years of existence, we have never had to "rule" ourselves. And we do host some high profile website, such as the ones I've mentioned before, Xenu.net and FlashBack magazine. I have worked in the Nordics, Netherlands and Germany. Public opinion, law and traditions vary a lot. This will also have influence on actions taken. - kurtis -
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