I have to follow the advice of my
attorney. To summarize what he says:
#1 If I scan messages for
viruses I imply a warranty to my customers that the messages are virus
free. Even if I don't tell them I'm scanning I imply that
warranty. If a virus does get through to them I am 100% liable for all
damages.
#2 If I don't scan messages I
can not be held liable.
#3 By scanning for viruses I
am effectively censoring what my customer can receive. Without specific
permission I can't censor messages. That specific permission goes down
to the "per message" level. An example would be if I were to dump a
customers sales agreement because it contained the name of a virus or
something else that caused it to be dumped I am liable for the
damages. In that case it would be an intentional statutory
tort, and not covered by my business insurance, and the customer could seek
punitive damages in the millions of dollars. In the US the right to
censor is questionable even with permission.
The answer is to never, never, never scan a
message for viruses that you don't personally OWN. You don't own the
customers message.
-Joe
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2001 12:25
PM
Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Is it our
Responsibility
I
can give you our position.
1)
It is not our responsibility, but as an added benefit (for which we exact a
higher price), we make our best efforts to protect our users and their
external counterparts... we also think that anything we can do as good
netizens we should do.
2)
We have some general guidelines that we use when we establish our pricing
& support rates... if a user begins to extend beyond those limits, then we
may ask them to stop, or we may adjust our thinking... if the situation is out
of hand (meaning that it is causing us or other users a problem) then we ask
the user to change their habits... their contract states what our general
guidelines are and they agree to abide by any reasonable
request.
I
should stat that we are not a _typical_ ISP and our customers are primarily
considered to be "strategic partners" with whom we have long-term
relationships. It is likely in a more anonymous ISP environment that stiffer
rules would be required - and lower prices would be required as
well.
Hope this helps,
_M
(1) Is it our responsibilty as providers of
mail to stop virus's from entering another persons network/computer through
our mail server? I posed the question to myself and not quiet sure how
to answer. I personally don't think it is, what do you guys
do?
(2) From an ISP standpoint, what do you all
consider excessive use on the mail server? A certain number of
messages per day? Or maybe a certain number of Bytes sent or
received.
I have been struggling with myself over these
very issues lately and cannot come to a firm decision. Hopefully
someone out there can offer some advice on these subjects and any other
E-Mail specific policies that they or their company have
implemented.
Thank You All in Advance
Stephen
LaBuda
