Perhaps we've been missing out. While ISPs and web developers have long granted themselves god-like clauses allowing them to censor, block, throttle, or disconnect just about anyone for anything, we at Ars have yet to capitalize on the many powers we could grant ourselves by writing a contract that no one will ever read. By being in the content business instead of the network business, we have sadly been unable to 1) disconnect anyone who ever badmouths the site, 2) send killer robots to the homes of those who block ads on the site, and 3) demand that the sweet stem cells of your firstborn be stockpiled in order to keep Editor-in-Chief Ken Fisher alive until the singularity comes.
Okay, so ISPs can't do all those things either, but as a group, they are no stranger to the Over-Broad Contract. The AP took a recent look at the contracts of the ten largest US ISPs and—surprise!—they tend to be highly restrictive.
