Geoff wrote: At some point, we must needs talk to his
ISP & force them >to discipline him. Even if Michael is using someone like AOL or >MSN who are at best indifferent to Wikipedia, I assume we have >enough Wikipedians from those domains who would be willing to
complain about how he is pissing in their swimming
pool, & >make even those ISPs realize that he's not worth ignoring.
This is the last word, really on the vandalismo thing --- James' notions of copyright infringement of inteelectual property are utterly vacuous, and I have to wonder if it was he or the pint that was talking there.
But there's going to have to be some kind of relationship established between WP and some of these ISP's -- as the case can be made:
1. That people who commit vandalist acts on the internet are in violation of their ISP contract, and 2. The ISP itself is liable somewhat for the acts of its users.
So, after a Wiki request, the admins at AOL or MSN might just hang up the phone and go back do downloading porn. Or a terse and detailed letter from a lawyer, explaining the situation and implying a threat of a lawsuit, might start the process of cooperation. The ISPs tend to favor their paying clientele over outsiders, quite naturally -- and it may help matters if people who are associated with an isp in question be the contact to explain the case.
The downside then becomes, that the WP then would have established lines of process between itself and corporate entities -- these entities then in some legal way may derive some kind of sense of duty of the WP to them and their interests, be it censorship of content, etc. Fuck them.
-Stiv
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