On Fri, 13 Mar 2009, Spiro Harvey wrote:
The act uses the phrase "terminating accounts," not "disconnecting."
Terminating sounds pretty terminal to me.
Good point. That would see pretty much to rule out libraries and other public access points having to take any action whatsoever, as long as they don't have any sort of registration or account system -- you can't terminate that which doesn't exist. (Worth checking with a real lawyer though: an account might be "deemed" to exist, despite neither party actually formulating any sort of contract, or even knowing each others identity.) There's nothing in the Act that requires services to be terminated where an account is closed. Ordinary commercial common sense might suggest it, but it's not a requirement. (The Act doesn't define what an "account" is, but given that the Act is overseen by the Commerce Dept, one would infer it means a financial account. However if you wound up in court they *might* take a different interpretation.) -Martin