~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C'punks, At 11:16 AM 6/26/96 -0700, Rich Graves wrote:

I see no excuse for the craven "indecency" and "personal information" bits of the AUP, but...

Plausible deniability. Currently, the majors don't want to be publicly associated with "naughty" uses of their networks. The do, however, want the lucrative fees generated by them. As a result, an enormous market niche has come open for "resellers" of 900/976 services. The majors can say, "We don't offer our services to THOSE types of services, but we are powerless to stop our resellers from doing that sort of business." The same rational applies to the Internet. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~