On Sat, 26 May 2001 15:57:41 -0700, Thomas Tabler wrote:
> Dear List:
> Thomas asked: "How does Mindspring know your OS... {etc.} I don't
> like to add bandwidth on the Arachne server, but to simplify: I don't
> know. Nevertheless, I have my beliefs. But I am not trained highly
> enough to have a definite idea at all. Remember, guys and gals, we are
> just amateurs, not professionals in TCP/IP and Web-stuff. That makes us
> sophisticated "power-users" to counter the effect of those big companies
> that seem to be promoting a big-style Internet. I believe that Mindsping
> is a very sophisticated network including Unix/Linux machines at a local
> level, networked into centralized servers running either Win 9.x or a
> very sophiticated brand of NT 2000. I believe that the ability of the
> new bigger servers that run Windows use features of Microsoft.com to
> obtain a lot of data from the "user". Remember, to try to access with
> my local client Lynx, I had to accept cookies. I think these were used
> to track me and report what "style" of user I am, and then refer me to
> this error message. In other words, they "assume" I probably am a non-
> Windows 95 user and then block me out. This is only my "educated guess".
I believe it is illegal for an ISP to refuse service to a subscriber
for reason that the subscriber is using an OS which competes with the one
the ISP is trying to promote. This is a violation of the anti-monopoly
laws. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that MicroSoft is paying bribes to
ISPs that go out of their way to promote their OS to the exclusion of all
others.
Sam Heywood
