Is A Shipping Company Equivalent To An ISP?

from the questions,-questions dept

There's nothing all that surprising about New York convincing shipping company DHL to suddenly decide to stop shipping online ordered cigarettes to NY. They made the decision in the face of pressure from New York's politically motivated Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer -- who certainly has quite a reputation for making life uncomfortable for the companies he targets. Expect FedEx and UPS to follow suit. Of course, it is a bit interesting to hear this decision come out so soon after the Supreme Court said that various states -- including New York -- couldn't ban out of state online wine orders if the state allowed the same thing from in-state retailers. In this case, though, it's not clear if NY allows any online ordering of cigarettes -- whether in-state or out-of-state, so it's probably on the correct side of that ruling (even if everyone admits this has a hell of a lot more to do with protecting state tax revenue than protecting children). However, what did seem most interesting about this is the fact that the politicians are going after the shipping companies, rather than the online cigarette sellers, who are the ones actually breaking the law. The obvious reason why is that it's a hell of a lot easier to go after just a few big name shipping companies (who don't want to be associated with activities like shipping cigarettes to kids) than a bunch of fly-by-night online cigarette sellers. However, just because it's easier, doesn't make it right. In fact, it seems like the real parallel may be with ISPs. ISPs are supposed to be protected from similar legal threats over content, as they're just the "shipping agent" who moves the bits from one computer to another -- just as DHL ships atoms from one person to another. In fact, when Pennsylvania tried to force ISPs to filter out certain sites, the law got tossed out by the courts, noting that it's not the ISPs breaking the law, but the providers of the content. Shouldn't the same situation apply to shipping companies?

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