Interesting almost-free ISP: Access-4-Free.com

[Hal Duston]

On Wed, 2004-02-25 at 10:51, DCT Jared wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:27:48 -0600, Brian Densmore wrote:
> >This has got to be illegal on the part of
> >TWC. If I have a local LAN in my home and I want
> >to share my LAN with other people TWC has no rights
> >to equipment I own. I rent a certain bandwidth from
> >the cable company and as long as I don't go over that usage
> >they have no legal leg to stand on. Of course I don't
> >have TWC and don't know what is in the contract, but
> >putting something in a contract doesn't make it enforceable.
> 
> Actually, since that is the whole point of putting something
> in a contract, it does. IANAL, but I do know that one.
> 
> Contracts are bizarre; once you sign it, of your own free will,
> you are bound to its terms, no matter WHAT it says. That's
> why you read the fine print, and do not sign until the contract
> is written according to _your_ understanding of the agreement.

This is not true.  Contract law can not compel illegal behavior.
Also in some states, contracts are not permitted to compel some rights
to be waived.  E.g. if I signed a contract with my employer stating that
I would not seek employment in any industry in any state of the union,
that would be an unenforceable clause.

Of course, many contracts to have draconian and egregious, but
enforceable clauses in them.  The proper response in that case is to
either seek to modify the contract through renegotiation or not to enter
into such a contract in the first place. 

> Contract law is awesome. People could topple the government 
> simply by pressing their rights under contract law more firmly. 
> No one does it though, because it takes a lot of work and 
> several years of dedicated effort.

The American Revolution is one example of a government being expelled in
spite of the fact that it took a "lot of work and several years of
dedicated effort".  I'm sure if I spent another 3 seconds I could come
up with additional examples.

> Of course, there are laws that prevent people from contracting
> with intent to harm others, but that is not what is being 
> discussed here.
> 
> =====
> 
> By the way, it was never determined WHY Leo's friend got
> booted from TWC. I assumed it was because he didn't pay
> his bill. You assumed it was because he was sharing his
> network. What is the truth, Leo?
> 
> -Jared
> 
> 
>