Just read this article regarding an ISP being sued for suspending a customer account and the resulting pile ups of emails that weren't delivered to the non-paying client on time.

This article should worry all hosts, especially after you read the part where it says the governor of California, Grey Davis, as signed a bill that says providers must give customers advanced 30-day notices prior to shutting down their email services:

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963631.html?tag=fd_lede2_hed

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2003, does not apply in situations where an account holder has violated the terms of service or when service is interrupted for reasons beyond the e-mail provider's control.

Not much of a problem there.

"You can't interfere with the mail. The post office has to return a letter even when it doesn't have enough postage."

Easy enough. Terminate the account so mail bounces back, rather than hold their mail at all.

Carter argued that Inter.net had violated the law by collecting e-mail messages addressed to her and using the files as a weapon to force her to pay a disputed bill.

Now we're getting to the heart of the matter :)

According to Carter, Inter.net presented her with a $214 charge for 14 months of service that had gone unbilled because of an accounting error.

Seems to be a case where the host made a mistake, then made a few more whereas they should have just eaten the loss.

Greg Moore

The California bill that Grey Davis signed is intended to prevent email providers from just closing up shop with no notice. If a customer violates your TOS/AUP (i.e. by not paying the bill) you still have the right to suspend/terminate them immediately.

Good Point trif. Although, I believe it is sort of an implicit TOS violation for most providers, as it does not specifically say "failure to pay your bill is a violation of this contract" in most TOS's. I would imagine most providers will get this kind of wording in their contracts by Jan 1st....

Originally posted by trif
The California bill that Grey Davis signed is intended to prevent email providers from just closing up shop with no notice. If a customer violates your TOS/AUP (i.e. by not paying the bill) you still have the right to suspend/terminate them immediately.

Thanks for clearing that up. I was beginning to worry.

http://www.egray.org - that guy? :D

HAHA... that's pretty funny.

Someone's got a lot of time on their hands :eek:

Scroll down to the bottom, you'll see a link to www.simonforgovernor.com. That's who has a lot of time on their hands.

Similar laws already exist in some states, although hardly followed & never enforced. There were similar rules on the books in Ohio (when I lived there). I had 3 DSL companies cut me off without notice in a years period. This is against the law, yet even the attorney general of Ohio refused to pursue the matter.