Re: ISP vs "newsgroup server provider": [was: Re: Question for Agent (and other news reader) users]

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:50:03 GMT, Bob Cunningham typed:

> No, I would say they're no longer an ISP that includes
> whatever Internet service they're dropping, whether it's
> Usenet access, World Wide Web access, or e-mail. An
> Internet service provider that provided only e-mail would
> still be an Internet service provider, just as a grocery
> store that sold only Heinz 57 Varieties* would still be a
> grocery store.

This is analogous of the problem of incremental changes: two grains
of sand aren't a heap, and if I add a grain of sand to something that
isn't a heap, it doesn't become a heap; yet, a heap of sand can be
obtained by adding grains incrementally.

There are reasonable expectations for entities like "grocery store".
They will vary geographically, but I think few would accept the label
a store that only sold ketchup.

> An entity that provided only newsgroups could still be said
> to be an Internet service provider, because it would be
> providing one Internet service. If someone gets e-mail from
> one source, Usenet from another, and the Web from yet
> another, they're using three Internet service providers to
> get three Internet services, whether or not those providers
> provide any other service.

In my understanding, the crucial point about an Internet Service
Provider is that it will provide access to the internet to people
that don't have it yet. In this sense, individual.net isn't an ISP.
Neither is Yahoo!, as far as I know, even though many people use it
as their primary or only e-mail account provider. Both only take
subscribers who already have internet access. On the other hand, it
is conceivable that a company will, for example, only provide access,
but not include e-mail accounts, news server access, web space etc.,
or even go so far as to block traffic from or to certain ports. This
company would still be an ISP, albeit one with a rather reduced scope.

Chris Waigl

--
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