Tor Project Sued Over a Revenge Porn Business That Used Its Service 311
redletterdave writes: The Tor Project has been sued in the state of Texas over a revenge porn website that used its free encrypted communications service. The plaintiff in the case — Shelby Conklin, a criminal justice major at the University of North Texas — alleges a revenge porn site called Pinkmeth "gained unauthorized access to nude photographs" she owned and posted them to the internet. She also said Tor, which The Economist once called "a dark corner of the web," was involved in an active "civil conspiracy" with Pinkmeth because the revenge porn website used the anonymous communications service to prevent others from tracking its location.
Redneck roadhouse (Score:3, Funny)
Texas has "the Internets" these days? Did they wire up the trailer parks?
Re:Redneck roadhouse (Score:5, Interesting)
It's also a state where you can be imprisoned for owning a sex toy.
Texas's economic success masks the widespread archaic views of the population.
Re:Redneck roadhouse (Score:5, Interesting)
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Owning more than four, or offering one for sale. Much as with drugs, owning more than a quantity deemed appropriate for personal use is automatically considered intent to distribute.
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Have you been living under a rock? Austin is the #1 fastest growing city in the country, and it is often referred to as "the new silicon valley." Texas has 4 of the 10 largest cities and 2 of the 5 largest metropolitan areas by population in the United States.
No one easier to wind up than a Texan. Austin or Houston, they go down real easy.
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Bigotry is fashionable among those who self-proclaim to be progressive.
Right? One would think that people as intellectual as "progressives" like to consider themselves would see the irony in acting like fundamentalists.
Of course, just because a person considers themselves something, doesn't necessarily make it so...
Re: Redneck roadhouse (Score:5, Funny)
before we quit running Cat 5 through our mothers basements.
Look a Yankee
There are almost no basements in Texas.
TEQUILA! (Score:5, Funny)
There are almost no basements in Texas.
Except the one in the Alamo.
Re: Redneck roadhouse (Score:5, Insightful)
Southerners do, dumbass.
Actually, we usually say "damn Yankee".
Re: Redneck roadhouse (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm SUING the manufacturers of BOX CUTTERS for the complicit CONSPIRACY they participated in on 9/11/2001!
-- Mayor 9u11iani.
IETF next (Score:5, Insightful)
They set the standards for the TCP/IP protocol, the one used by the packets which conspired with the Tor network to move data around untraceably!
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Re:IETF next (Score:5, Informative)
She's on quite the fishing expedition. Here is another lawsuit filed by her [courthousenews.com], from 2012, suing Pinkmeth (again), Katz Global Media (for the crime of providing anonymous hosting), and Verisign. Yeah, she sued Verisign. Maybe that suit didn't work out so well, so she thought she would try her hand against Tor. Not exactly the best way to make a name for herself as a criminal justice major. I suspect that pursuing suits like these will serve is much more of a "loss in earning capacity" than a porn picture ever would. She might also be interested that her Facebook profile is open for the world to see. Here she is [facebook.com].
Maybe she's just trying to clog up the Google search results for her name with information about lawsuits instead of her actual pictures. You have to go to page 4 to find this one [tumblr.com] (which is not Pinkmeth), page 6 for this one [tumblr.com] (also not Pinkmeth), and page 8 for this one [tumblr.com] (again, not Pinkmeth).
I'm assuming she has no proof that would allow her to sue the person actually responsible for distributing the pictures (you know, other than her). Life lesson learned, I suppose. Try not to clog up the justice system.
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All these people can file SLAPP motion. Even the legitimate ones can claim she's running SLAPP cases around the whole issue, and have her barred from bringing this shit up ever again.
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They set the standards for the TCP/IP protocol, the one used by the packets which conspired with the Tor network to move data around untraceably!
Except that she's going after the part that made tracking a source difficult/impossible. With normal TCP/IP you can track where packets are coming from.
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Re:IETF next (Score:5, Informative)
Civil engineers are sued when they make mistakes designing a road.
Yea, but they don't get sued for the things people use the roads they designed for. Which is what's happening here.
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Yea, but they don't get sued for the things people use the roads they designed for. Which is what's happening here.
Gun and airplane manufacturers do. In a classic case, an idiot modified his Piper Cub aircraft by removing the front seat and installing a camera, ignored the NOTAM that closed the airport he was intending to depart from, ignored the van the airport manager had parked on the closed runway, tried to depart, hit the van and conked his head on the camera he had installed. Estate sued Piper for making a dangerous airplane.
And, of course, remember something called Napster? They provided directories of potenti
Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
On the Tor darknet are sites which host and trade enormous amounts of child porn, and one which specializes in leaked nude photos of celebrities, some of which have been successfully removed from the web. If it were legally possible to sue the Tor project over .onion sites, it would have been done a looooong time ago.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
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Quite literally anything can happen here.
In that case, my money's on Godzilla.
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Yes although I'd bet money that Shelby Conklin is going to discover how unpleasant the Streisand Effect can be. She will probably now be known as the revenge porn woman.
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Yes although I'd bet money that Shelby Conklin is going to discover how unpleasant the Streisand Effect can be. She will probably now be known as the revenge porn woman.
I don't agree with her suing Tor but I disagree that this is necessarily an instance of the Streisand Effect.
Not taking action would be succumbing to a form of the heckler's veto. I suspect in a lot of cases they start out trying to get rid of the info and most stop when it becomes obvious they'll only make it more public. But in a case like this she might be willing to face the publicity because she thinks seeking justice is more important than giving up.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, she is doing it wrong. The nobility of her intent does not excuse the harm caused by the ignorant execution thereof.
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Lawyers cost money. The Tor Foundation will have to spend a lot of money defending this - even if they're successful. That's plenty of harm right there.
If you want more harm, you could consider the chilling effect that this will have on other foundations or projects.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
Which is a pity. I am seeing a lot of terrible comments lobbed at this woman and people giving a free pass to whoever obtained her images and the site for hosting them.
Nobody's "giving a free pass" to the revenge porn site. We're just not talking about it, because the revenge porn people, in this particular case, aren't the ones making a public ass of themselves. "This woman" is, and thus, shall be the subject of our collective ridicule.
In that, hey, how sad is it that she's making herself look worse than a revenge porn site?
Yeah it was stupid of her to name Tor as a defendant, but that can be explained by her simply not being part of the tech culture and thus not really aware of how things go together. Keep in mind she is only a student.
Yea - a law student. Who apparently doesn't actually understand the law. Again, not helping her own case here, both literally and metaphorically.
But people seem to be focusing on just that, which is pretty much just victim blaming.
No, suing Tor because "people use tor for porn" is victim blaming. This is pure mocking of stupidity and lack of common sense.
It is the same crap people pull on rape victims all the time, finding some way to socially punish them for trying to bring consequences for their attacker's actions.
You know, as a close relative of a victim of violent sexual assault, I take offense to your supposition that what my family member went through is exactly the same as what this woman is doing to herself. Don't bandy about the term "rape" for everything you disagree with, as it desensitizes people from the severity of that particular crime.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, as a close relative of a victim of violent sexual assault, I take offense to your supposition that what my family member went through is exactly the same as what this woman is doing to herself. Don't bandy about the term "rape" for everything you disagree with, as it desensitizes people from the severity of that particular crime.
All the internets sir. You win them.
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Nobody's "giving a free pass" to the revenge porn site. We're just not talking about it, because the revenge porn people, in this particular case, aren't the ones making a public ass of themselves. "This woman" is, and thus, shall be the subject of our collective ridicule.
In that, hey, how sad is it that she's making herself look worse than a revenge porn site?
Read around a bit more. There are quite a few posts here that are putting all the blame on her
I've read plenty to know that even if a margin of the population here are doing that, you're still wrong to assume that's the general tone, as it appears you are doing.
Yea - a law student. Who apparently doesn't actually understand the law. Again, not helping her own case here, both literally and metaphorically.
No, she does not understand Tor, which is different then not understanding the law. Going after companies who seem to be aiding in crime or advertising services that make criminal activity easier or undetectable is well within the law. This is why you can go after companies that say sell devices for getting free cable.
She doesn't understand a thing, so she sues it. That indicates a piss-poor understanding of Western legal practices. A good law student would have done a tiny bit of research before going all sue-happy. Hell, a halfway intelligent person in general would do that. Only morons sue what they fail to understand.
You know, as a close relative of a victim of violent sexual assault, I take offense to your supposition that what my family member went through is exactly the same as what this woman is doing to herself. Don't bandy about the term "rape" for everything you disagree with, as it desensitizes people from the severity of that particular crime.
Ah yes, the old 'it is not as bad as rape so it is ok' argument.
Well, since I never said that, fuck
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As I and other have already pointed out, we are not blaming her for becoming a victim.
There's an entire thread titled "Why yes, we should blame the victim here" [slashdot.org], with the root post rated +5 Insightful. Yeah, people are blaming her.
But quick, respond with a No True Slashdotter about how those are fringe elements and marginal and don't represent the views of a large portion of Slashdot.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
The point is she's not trying to bring consequence for her attacker's actions, you colossal moron, she's lashing out at tangentially related parties. We're not "giving a free pass" to the revenge porn scum - that guy simply doesn't even enter the current discussion, which is about her suing Tor.
It's like suing Ford Motors because a drunk on a Prius hit you (and when people say "are you dumb?", a white knight jumps in to cry "But why are you giving drunk drivers a free pass?!?!?!")
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which is pretty much just victim blaming.
And she's just as misguided for blaming the platform. It seems to me like the real person she should be suing here is the person who (presumably illegally) stole or leaked the photos in the first place. Anything else is just grandstanding, and she must know it (unless you're presuming that she's so profoundly stupid that she just can't understand how the technology works).
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Streisand Effect will fix that.
Probably already has.
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Not anything. Magic won't become real, even if a Texas court decrees it.
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They might take that as a challenge. North Carolina made global warming illegal after all.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:5, Funny)
I can't wait for the confusion when the judge orders that Tor be executed.
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Jesus can't file an Amicus brief.
He is an illegal alien. :P
Author of Excel to be sued next (Score:3, Funny)
In breaking news, Microsoft will be sued by the state of New York for authoring and distributing the malicious software called Excel. Investors on Wall Street have used this nefarious software to destroy the world economy while raking in billions of dollars for themselves.
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What if she was trying to get coverage to promote her new incoming carreer ? Exactly what she was asking for while trolling us all.
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Better add DARPA and Jon Postel as codefendants (Score:3)
Better add DARPA and Jon Postel as codefendants. I hear they came up with this thing called TCP/IP, which aids and abets people like Tor putting together anonymous networks in the first place; it's a clear case of collusion...
Bonus Points: I hear DARPA has deep pockets...
Streisand effect (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm looking at her pictures right now. Unfortunately Pinkmeth is SLOW right now. Might have something to do with all the fuzz about it. :-)
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What, no links? Bastard. I hadn't heard of this site until I got to Slashdot. Bookmarked for later review.
[John]
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More than be mad you didn't post links, I'm surprised that you didn't post under Anonymous Coward (even if you claim is untrue).
Gun Argument (Score:3, Insightful)
So if they go after Tor for a service someone else provided using Tor, isn't that like going after gun manufacturers for the murders their products help commit? Not trying to start a flame war or anything but this seems kinda close to that notion to me. I'd have a really good laugh if Texas set some legal standard for going after gun manufacturers in the US with this.
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I agree, it seems pretty close to that. Any lawyers want to comment? This could be entertaining :D
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So if they go after Tor for a service someone else provided using Tor, isn't that like going after gun manufacturers for the murders their products help commit?
Yea, kinda.
Not trying to start a flame war... I'd have a really good laugh if Texas set some legal standard for going after gun manufacturers in the US with this.
So much for not trying to start a flame war.
Anyway, the precedent is already set, at least in terms of firearms manufacturers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P... [wikipedia.org]
Short answer, no, you can't sue them for what people do with their products.
Moral of the story (Score:2)
Re:Moral of the story (Score:5, Informative)
Especially when you are majoring in criminal justice, a field known for having the policy that any bit of dirt found on you can and will be used by someone who wants to hurt you with it.
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...unless you're good looking enough to make a career out of it.
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Re:Moral of the story (Score:5, Insightful)
What is it with people wanting the person who actually did something crapy to not have any consequences? Well, at least when women are the victims and something like sex is involved.
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In this hypothetical, it's douchey to send the pics out. But is that illegal? If you send someone an email is there some kind of implicit legal agreement to delete, or not distribute? Or are embarrassing or indecent pictures special in this regard? -- Aside from common decency and decorum, which shouldn't be legal constructs. Clearly things like correspondence between lawyers/doctors or business concerns etc are a special case.. i'm specifically referring to two private parties.
Pretend this was a ranty,
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The pictures were taken by her. They're selfies.
Law student trying to make a name for herself (Score:3)
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History says otherwise, it sure worked for sandra fluke.
Insert obligatory Streisand Effect joke here... (Score:2)
"Don't be ridiculous." --Balki (Score:3)
Was "revenge porn" non-existant before Tor? I don't see how this (or any other similar) case has any merit whatsoever. Sue the one(s) who masterminded the criminal act(s). I mean, I know I'm preaching to the choir here... but it's like suing AT&T for providing phone lines to someone who recorded phone sex conversations with their spouse and released them after they split up. It's like suing Sony for providing the video camera to Paris Hilton. Lame, lame lame. Ignorant, shortsighted, lame.
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Was "revenge porn" non-existant before Tor?
It was mostly limited to scratching "For a Good Time Call Jenny 867-5309" on the bathroom stall of every local truck stop/gas station.
And no more defamatory then, either.
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It was mostly limited to scratching "For a Good Time Call Jenny 867-5309" on the bathroom stall of every local truck stop/gas station.
That was you? You bastard; I wasted so many quarters trying get in touch with her as I followed her around the country!
Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
I can't say much about the merit of the case or common sense, but considering radar jammer manufacturers can be held accountable for miss-use (intended abuse of the law) its at least possible that the case will go to trial. The significant note of the case (if it continues) will be if TOR is designed to facilitate breaking the law or if it has enough legal uses to be considered incidental support, like the internet, air, electricity, etc...
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Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Laws exist in a large part to protect the dumb, naive, incapable, or ignorant individuals in our population. Choose your insult and blame society for being too liberal supportive of any group and you can say the same thing.
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Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously? Under what logic is it okay to publicly disseminate, often for the express purpose of humiliation, someone else's private photographs whether obtained illegally, surreptitiously, or shared in confidence with you?
She's not being a child. She's taking a stand against someone else's repugnant behavior.
Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here (Score:5, Insightful)
She's taking a stand against someone else's repugnant behavior.
By suing what appears to be everyone except that someone else?
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More like don't put nudes on an online photo sharing service, password-protected or not.
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Many victims actually do share part of the responsibility for what happens to them. In some cases, they bear most of the responsibility. It's illegal to stomp the crap out of someone who didn't physically attack you, but don't tell me that someone walking into a Hell's Angels bar and spitting on the bartender bears no responsibility for being beaten half to death. Nobody is trying to absolve the perpetrator of responsibility, but she bears at least some of it for taking nude pictures of herself and posting
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Does this only apply to revenge porn, or would you also blame someone who gets mugged for being out after dark?
No, that's just you attempting to use rhetoric to dismiss a position without actually analysing it.
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Technically true if she posted the photos on Facebook or something.
Instead, what happens i
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Oh yeah, freedom is for men, but women need to guard themselves and not cause trouble. Malicious acts are fine as long as you can slut shame the other person into silence.
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So... why is it the people who upload and host this stuff do not have consequences?
I think that's a legitimate TOR angle, actually. In order to leverage the law you need to know where they physically are. TOR hides that, per design.
There's a case here, folks.
TOR is inhibiting legal remedies.
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That is like telling someone
"Don't want to be in a car accident? Quit your job and never leave your home."
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Don't want stuff stolen out of your vehicle? Don't leave it in plain view, in an unlocked vehicle in a part of town known for thefts from vehicles. No, she doesn't bear all the responsibility. Yes, she bears some of it.
Hey Shelby Conklin... (Score:5, Interesting)
THANKS for letting me know there are nude photos of you on the internet -- and where to find them! YOU are a font of information and those of us who never even knew this site existed are thankful you are too stupid to realize you just made yourself even more of a search topic. And your lawsuit will fail.
Congrats! :)
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How do you know this isn't exactly what she wants to happen?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmmm ... (Score:3)
Can you sue automakers for car crashes not caused by defect?
Can you sue gun makers for deaths?
Can you sue the financial industry for losses in the market?
Then why the hell is this any different? Hell, sue the fscking NSA for not having told you about it and stopped it.
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Can you sue automakers for car crashes not caused by defect?
Yes.
Can you sue gun makers for deaths?
Yes.
Can you sue the financial industry for losses in the market?
Again, Yes.
Then why the hell is this any different?
It's not. Nothing is stopping you from suing anyone for anything, you just need to be prepared to pay for a lot of legal fees as your cases get dismissed left and right. This is America and we can sue anyone we damn well please for any frivolous reason. You just can't always win. The only requirement for a tort is a civil wrongdoing, intentional or unintentional, and you, plaintiff, have to achieve the preponderance of the evidence.
Hell, sue the f[u]cking NSA for not having told you about it and stopped it.
Give her time, she's working on including them for failin
Originally developed by ... (Score:3)
AT&T is next (Score:2)
Um, so.. (Score:2)
Or is that next?
This seems a little like suing a typewriter manufacturer because their product defeats handwriting analysis.
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She should at least sue Al Gore, since he invented the damn thing!
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She should at least sue Al Gore, since he invented the damn thing!
Before someone else jumps on this, the actual quote was "I took the initiative in creating the internet".
So, it's "created", not "invented". Pedants will take one to task for getting that wrong.
But should such a lawsuit ever take place, I'd be in the front row, with popcorn.
Who's She gonna have Served? (Score:3)
... as in "You've Been Served!" Anyone can file a lawsuit against anyone over anything. The first problem is finding and getting that person into the Court. For this you need Process Servers to properly serve a Notice of Hearing. Default judgement is only possible with correct service.
TFA didn't mention who she is serving but if she can find anyone, the most they could say is "Yes, I was involved in setting up Tor Long-ago and Far-Away. No possible knowledge or involvement with complaint." And the Judge will excuse them.
Pretty lame of a law-student not-to-know. Most likely a publicity stunt.
Hopefully, tor will file for frivilous lawsuit (Score:2)
BUT, when going after innocent parties, that gets old.
Great now (Score:2)
I'm gonna waste time trying to find her photo's Daaaaam you Streisand effect
I'm ashamed of you people. (Score:2)
I thought I knew you people...
This article is hours old, and there's no link to the .onion address of the revenge site.
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Yahoo it yourself you lazy jackass.
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Yahoo it yourself you lazy jackass.
Don't you mean "Bing it"?
In July 2009, Yahoo signed a deal with Microsoft, the result of which was that Yahoo Search would be powered by Bing. This is now in effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Search#Search_technology_acquisition [wikipedia.org]
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Hmmm. Have you checked for system updates on your humor chip? Show me one cowboy who hollers "bing!"
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To be fair, the guy top center was actually called "Bing"...
Re:Bill Gates (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This one will be quick. (Score:4, Informative)
Pretty sure you need a massive lobbying brigade in order to qualify for Safe Harbor protections. :P
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In that case, it gets thrown out one step sooner, since they're even less involved than an ISP would be.