While I agree with 99.999% of what Paul is saying, I'd like to point out
that whether or not the Government presses a case (and utimately wins or
loses it) against a giant corporation has little to do with the actual
infractions involved. Ultimately what matters is a complex web of ego, the
desire to make money, and politics. The fact that a group of major
carriers are doing such-and-such won't cause the DoJ to investigate. The
fact that it totally pisses off one or more of the correct people will.
Once that happens, the fate the companies involved is based on such a
complicated interplay of the components of the forementioned web, it is
impossible to predict ahead of time what the ultimate outcome will be.
--zawada
Paul J. Zawada, RCDD | Senior Network Engineer
zawada@ncsa.uiuc.edu | National Center for Supercomputing Applications
+1 217 244 4728 | http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/People/zawada