Mel, this is to ack your note. "Because I'm a lawyer" isn't an argument at all, 
*nor have I made it* - however, that I'm extremely busy, and under no 
obligation to provide any of this information here, is.  I'm not here for 
academic debate.   You are also free to bring a lawsuit based on ISP as common 
carrier, but you will lose.

Anne

> On Aug 5, 2019, at 12:19 PM, Mel Beckman <m...@beckman.org> wrote:
> 
> Anne of Many Titles,
> 
> I notice you didn’t provide any actual data to support your position. What, 
> for example, outside of copyright violations, could ISPs conceivably be 
> liable for? Present an argument to make your case. “No, because I’m a lawyer 
> and you’re not” is not an argument :)
> 
> As clearly stated in DMC 512(a), the safe harbor provision for transitory 
> transport, which is what Cloudfare provides, 
> 
> "protects service providers who are passive conduits from liability for 
> copyright infringement, even if infringing traffic passes through their 
> networks. In other words, provided the infringing material is being 
> transmitted at the request of a third party to a designated recipient, is 
> handled by an automated process without human intervention, is not modified 
> in any way, and is only temporarily stored on the system, the service 
> provider is not liable for the transmission.” 
> 
> That’s not a law school student opinion. That’s the law itself. As I 
> previously said, I’m not talking about the FCC definition of CC. Under DMCA, 
> "service providers who are passive conduits” are the essence of the common 
> law definition of Common Carrier 
> (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carrier).
> 
>  Incidentally, Network Neutrality wasn’t enacted until 2015, and classified 
> ISPs as FCC CCs purely to bring them under regulation by the FCC. DMCA was 
> passed in 1998, and Safe Harbor is based on the fact that ISPs are “passive 
> conduits". NN has nothing to do with the common carrier aspect of ISPs as 
> "service providers who are passive conduits”. 
> 
>  -mel
> 
>> On Aug 5, 2019, at 9:41 AM, Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. <amitch...@isipp.com> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Aug 5, 2019, at 10:02 AM, Mel Beckman <m...@beckman.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Patrick,
>>> 
>>> You’re confusing the FCC’s definition of common carrier for telecom 
>>> regulatory purposes, and the DMCA definition, which specifically grants 
>>> ISPs protection from litigation through its Safe Harbor provision, as long 
>>> as they operate as pure common carriers:
>>> 
>>> “Section 512(a) provides a safe harbor from liability for ISPs, provided 
>>> that they operate their networks within certain statutory bounds, generally 
>>> requiring the transmission of third-party information without interference, 
>>> modification, storage, or selection. [emphasis mine]
>>> 
>>> http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v27/27HarvJLTech257.pdf
>>> 
>>> -mel 
>> 
>> Section 512(a) applies very specifically to the copyright infringement issue 
>> as addressed in the DMCA.  While I don't disagree that this law school 
>> paper, written while Lovejoy was a law student, in 2013,  could be read as 
>> if ISPs were common carriers, they are not, and were not.   Even if it were 
>> headed that way, actions by the current FTC and administration rolled back 
>> net neutrality efforts in 2017, four years after this student paper was 
>> published.
>> 
>> All that said, this is very arcane stuff, and ever-mutating, so it's not at 
>> all difficult to see why reasonable people can differ about the meanings of 
>> various things out there. 
>> 
>> Anne
>> 
>> Anne P. Mitchell, Attorney at Law
>> CEO/President, Institute for Social Internet Public Policy
>> Dean of Cybersecurity & Cyberlaw, Lincoln Law School of San Jose
>> Author: Section 6 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (the Federal anti-spam law)
>> Legislative Consultant
>> GDPR, CCPA (CA) & CCDPA (CO) Compliance Consultant
>> Board of Directors, Denver Internet Exchange
>> Board of Directors, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop
>> Legal Counsel: The CyberGreen Institute
>> Former Counsel: Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS)
>> Member: California Bar Association
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 

---

Anne P. Mitchell, Attorney at Law
CEO/President, Institute for Social Internet Public Policy
Dean of Cybersecurity & Cyberlaw, Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Author: Section 6 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (the Federal anti-spam law)
Legislative Consultant
GDPR, CCPA (CA) & CCDPA (CO) Compliance Consultant
Board of Directors, Denver Internet Exchange
Board of Directors, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop
Legal Counsel: The CyberGreen Institute
Former Counsel: Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS)
Member: California Bar Association

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