New N.Y. Law Targets Hidden Net LD Tolls

Thu Aug 18 07:07:57 UTC 2005

On 8/18/2005 2:59 AM, Richard A Steenbergen wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2005 at 02:44:59AM -0400, Eric A. Hall wrote:
> 
>>On 8/17/2005 10:04 PM, Fergie (Paul Ferguson) wrote:
>>
>>>A new law that's apparently the first in the nation threatens to
>>>penalize Internet service providers that fail to warn users that some
>>>dial-up numbers can ring up enormous long-distance phone bills even
>>>though they appear local.
>>
>>aka, make ISPs liable for other people's fraud. What's the thinking here,
>>anybody know?
> 
> Erm... Requiring that ISPs notify customers that phone numbers in the same 
> area code may not be "local" has WHAT exactly to do with making ISPs 
> liable for other people's fraud?

If there's a penalty for failing to ~adequately track and notify customers
then that's a liability, by definition.

Seems to me the appropriate response is for the AG office to pursue the
people who are running the toll scams, not to push enforcement out to
uninvolved third parties. Having dealt with AGs in the past, I know that's
just whistling dixie, but still the notion of introducing liability is
kind of spooky.

-- 
Eric A. Hall                                        http://www.ehsco.com/
Internet Core Protocols          http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/coreprot/