Isp liabilities essay

Smaller ISPs may be forced out of business entirely if the liability risk is too great. Larger ISPs that are better positioned to prepare for the liability risk would have to set aside funds for lawyers, settlements and judgments. Alternatively, these ISPs may choose to purchase some form of liability insurance. Either strategy costs money.

Should liability lie purely with the individual or entity whose action, or failure to act, was directly related to the event -- the so-called "bad actor?" Should it lie with individuals, organizations, or institutions that contributed to the injury or simply provided the "bad actor" access to the Internet?

As part of their services, ISPs often give their clients the means to make documents available over the Internet to the public at large. For example, an ISP may provide its clients with more than just an email account and access to the web; it may give them the right to upload files (including web pages) to the ISP's publicly accessible servers.

In the light of the proliferation of liability issues in early 1990s, ISPs were recognised of issues of responsibility for subject content in all parts of the world, coordinated and notified by each of the organizations of their limited liability, such as ECO and US DMCA.