[OpenWireless Tech] A small question about tracking

[John Gilmore]

> Freedom from liability for router owners

I don't understand how using a VPN would eliminate liability for
router owners.

First, if your ISP's contract prohibits you from sharing your
connection, it makes no legal difference whether you share it and then
stuff the bits into a VPN, or you just share it.  You are violating
your contract, period.  They can easily catch you at it and cancel you
if they choose to.  Is the theory here that it's "legal as long as you
don't get caught", to quote Bob Dylan?  How is that going to reassure
any Nervous Nellie access point owners?

Second, if the router owner sends some fraction of their traffic to pop
out at some other IP address X (at the other end of the VPN), won't
any problem with that traffic, such as a copyright complaint or a
libel suit, just lead to address X, which is being rented to Nervous
Nellie by the VPN operator?  Nervous Nellie will still be in trouble,
just not at her home IP address.

(It's not clear to me whether you're proposing to send access point
owners' own laptop/phone traffic to a VPN, or send visiting traffic to
a VPN, or what.  Or do you want all the visitors to each have
prearranged their own VPN somewhere?  The level of handwaving here
makes it hard to even understand what others are proposing.)

	John Gilmore

PS: I would appreciate if Todd and Natanael could have a private
discussion somewhere else, and then jointly report back, briefly, with
whatever resolution or irresolution they have come to.  If this list
is going to consist mostly of twenty messages a day between two people
who loudly and publicly can't agree, I'll be glad to unsubscribe.