On Tue, Nov 22, 2005 at 10:28:58PM -0700, Technomage wrote:
> some of my informational capability. We must consider usenet to be a public 
> resource (much as IRC is and e-mail definitely is) and convince these 
> broadband providers NOT to drop the ball here.

I wouldn't say that IRC falls into the "public resource" category,
personally.  I've seen prohibitions on IRC *clients* in the TOS of many
hosting providers.  I knew that servers were generally a no-go -- even
Speakeasy, with the most liberal attitude of any ISP that I've seen --
but I hadn't heard of clients being prohibited by hosting providers.  (I
haven't looked around much at different ISPs' TOS, though, so some might
prohibit clients as well.  But I don't know.)

-- 
Bill Jonas    *    bill@billjonas.com    *    http://www.billjonas.com/
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your front door.  You step
into the Road,  and if you don't keep your feet,  there  is  no knowing
where you might be swept off to."  --  Bilbo Baggins