isp refuses to reveal customer's name -Reply

[Richard Murray]

To Netsec readers,
     (Sorry to include a disclaimer, but the following is my personal
comment and not the view of my employer, the U.S Department of
Justice)
     One of the provisions of the law that @Home may be relying on as a
reason for noncompliance is Title 47 Section 551 of the U.S. Code which
says:
     Except as provided in paragraph (2), a cable operator shall not
disclose personally identifiable information concerning any subscriber
without the prior written or electronic consent of the subscriber
concerned.  
     Paragraph (2) says in part that disclosure is authorized if there is a
court order, or if the subscriber consents, or if " the disclosure does not
reveal, directly or indirectly, the extent of any viewing or other use  by
the subscriber of a cable service or other service provided by the cable
operator..."
     The provision was enacted in 1984, when the writers obviously were
not thinking of cable modems.  The provision conflicts with other
provisions such as Title 18, Section 2703(d) of the U.S. Code which
govern ISPs in general.  It will be interesting to see what the Court says
about this argument.
Dick Murray
U.S. Attorney's Office
Grand Rapids, MI