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 JakCrow
join:2001-12-06
Palo Alto, CA | Also interesting in comcast's TOS.... 6g: Theft of Service
You will not connect the Service or any Comcast Equipment to more computers, either on or outside of the Premises, than are reflected in your account with us. You acknowledge that any unauthorized receipt of the Service constitutes theft of service, which is a violation of federal law and can result in both civil and criminal penalties. In addition, if the violations are willful and for commercial advantage or private financial gain, the penalties may be increased.
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This item in Comcast's TOS is incorrect.
Federal CATV do not apply to cable internet services and there appears to be no official proposals to add internet services to be covered. There have been proposed legislation in a few states to add cable internet service to state level theft of service laws, but currently there appears to be nothing moving forward.
I have talked to my local cable franchise manager in the past about this, and it is her belief they cannot apply theft of service laws to internet services because they are unregulated, though she said she would be happy to work to make them regulated if the cable companies want to use CATV laws illegitimately.
The cable company can shut down someone's account, but they couldn't file federal charges. | |
| said by JakCrow:
6g: Theft of Service
You will not connect the Service or any Comcast Equipment to more computers, either on or outside of the Premises, than are reflected in your account with us. You acknowledge that any unauthorized receipt of the Service constitutes theft of service, which is a violation of federal law and can result in both civil and criminal penalties. In addition, if the violations are willful and for commercial advantage or private financial gain, the penalties may be increased.
Now this would be an interesting tangent. Say they started killing accounts with routers. Do you really think MS, Linksys, D-Link, SMC, and Cisco would stand by and watch them kill their business? MS alone paid a good sum of money to put their name on home routers and wireless equipment that I don't think they would approve of Comcast or any other ISP telling their customers that routers are illegal unless they are charge extra for the service.
As for the TOS/AUP's, it will end up in court one day and the legaleze will do nothing but hurt the credibility of the cable companies (and DSL providers too.) Plus, look at the "Do Not Call" list. It has had a tremendous response and people are still signing up. Think there won't be similar feel good legislation with SPAM email or with click through agreements? | |
JakCrow
join:2001-12-06
Palo Alto, CA
| I don't think the hardware peddlers will really do anything. In fact, Linksys has a co-branded line of hardware with Comcast right now.
The biggest problem I have with a TOS like Comcast's is that it has clauses that aren't legally binding, like the theft of service, and the "we can look up your credit history and sell that information to the highest bidder" thing, and I also believe the lawsuit and arbitration terms are bogus, but Comcast won't remove them until they're challenged. Companies should be forced to "correct" their TOS when there are factual errors in it, but that's just IMO.
[text was edited by author 2003-07-03 09:37:04] | |
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