AT&T's Subscriber Agreement

[johnt at WebEvent.com (John Tsangaris)]

(b) FTP/HTTP Service Setup. Customer should be aware that when using the 
Service to access the Internet or any other online network or service, 
there are certain applications, such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server 
or HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) server, which may be used to allow 
other Service users and Internet users to gain access to Customer's 
computer. If Customer chooses to run such applications, Customer should 
take the appropriate security measures. Neither AT&T nor @Home Network 
shall have any liability whatsoever for any claims, losses, actions, 
damages, suits or proceedings resulting from, arising out of or otherwise 
relating to the use of such applications by Customer, including without 
limitation, damages resulting from others accessing Customer's computer.



This states that you ARE able to run an FTP or HTTP server.  It says "If 
Customer chooses to run such applications", meaning that it is the 
Customers choice.  On top of that, att says that they shall not be liable 
if you choose to use such applications, not "att shall discontinue your 
service if ....".

I know lawyers use a lot of obscure language, but this isn't one of those 
times.

"FTP ... server or HTTP ... server ... may be used"

Those are the words that matter.  I looked over the rest of the contract 
and could not find anywhere that states or implies that "FTP ... server or 
HTTP ... server may NOT be used".

Of course, it does not explicitly say WHO may use these servers in that 
sentence, but the sentence which comes later, "If Customer chooses to run 
such applications" implies that it is the Customer who is the USER of these 
servers.


Anything else they say on their site is irrelevant, as you only signed the 
contract.  Yes, they can change policies of the contract but according to 
11(b), they cannot change it silently.  They must, at the minimum, post 
that they have change the policies (which has given me the desire to create 
a program to continually watch the 'posting' page for any changes, and 
notify me on such.

But seeing as there 'current' contract says nothing about dis-allowing ftp 
or http servers, then they can't legally stop you.

They can, however, block port 80, according to this contract.  There is 
nothing in the wording that says anything about the assigning of ports, or 
the allowing of information flow to those ports.  So, while you are able to 
run an FTP or HTTP server, they do not have to allow specific ports to be 
used (they can say that you can still use port 8080 for http, thus still 
allowing you to use an http server).


A few tips I have learned from my wife (having interpreted laws and written 
tarriffs many times in her career, her specialty was phone companies):

1. document everything, every outage, every complaint, the name of the 
person you speak to, the phone number you called, the time, the particular 
office/town/state that person is in, the situation, the solution you had 
been promised, and the times you had been promised. make sure that when you 
speak to someone they write down as a note in your file, important 
information regarding the incident (such as what arrangements you came to, 
the times/dates you were promised and the solution).

2. never speak to a lacky, if you want something done, ask for the 
supervisor/manager immediately, and if they don't get you what you want, go 
higher up the chain, when they say no, push, ask for the supervisors 
supervisor, phone number, exentsion, proper spelling of the name. Then deal 
with them.  Eventually, you will get someone high enough that will look at 
this matter as trivial, and will be fairly pissed off that such a trivial 
matter has wasted their time, the crap will start rolling down hill with an 
urgent "take care of this, now" message.  My wife has successfully used 
this tactic hundreds of times (and swears by it).  I may be able to get 
some executive phone numbers to call regarding this (the ones she used when 
she was dealing with this stuff at work).. but I can't promise 
anything.  Those lead directly to the people who will start the crap 
rolling down hill, and you won't event have to climb the ladder to get to 
them. :)

3. never threaten to take these people to court or to sue (how many times 
do they hear THAT in a day?).  A clean assurance that you will be sending a 
letter to the Department of Justice (don't send bogus letters) regarding 
this matter, including a copy of the contract you signed, the current 
contract, their name, the times you spoke to them (and the name of the 
person you spoke to), and the situation, will help.  This of course is to 
be followed promptly by a letter to the Department of Justice (registered 
mail), ccd (registered mail) to the company you are having a problem with 
(can't forget the cc).  On that letter make sure you note at the bottom who 
the letter is ccd to.


-John






Disclaimer (I hate the fact that there are losers out there whose stupidity 
would force me to write this):

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I have any law training.  This email constitutes 
my personal opinion of the respective contract.  This information is not to 
be construed as legal advice or legal interpretation of the law. Use of 
this opinion is the sole responsibility of the user of the opinion. The 
writer of the opinion does not make any warranties, express or implied, 
about this opinion, nor is he liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, 
special, punitive or consequential losses or damages, including loss of 
profits, loss of earnings, loss of business opportunities and personal 
injuries (including death), resulting directly or indirectly out of, or 
otherwise arising in connection with the use of this opinion.  Loser.

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