urgent help RE:permissions for setting up apache from home?

a friend of mine is wanting to set up apache on his mac g4 powerbook, running os/x. does he have to ask his ISP for permission to run the web server from home, as it will be used to host mp3's? any info regarding permissions and so on would be enormously appreciated. please email me if you can help, cheers!

Apart that it is stupid to set up such a thing this way (IMHO) he has no need for permission .. in my country!

I must agree that it is not smart to set up a webserver on a notebook computer. Notebooks aren't made to be left on all the time, you're asking for trouble.

If you want to know if it's allowed or not, you should read the terms of service from your ISP. There is no general answer for this, and some ISPs block all port 80 requests to their IPs.

I know roadrunner does not allow any servers (at least timewarner rr), but all this is official crap and I've been hosting ftp for about a year now - they have not said anything yet. Actually what I did is changed port from 21 to any other available. And I host http for lan, but they will never know that...

Since he is not simply putting up a permanent p2p servent, I think it's either a commercial service or a "pirate" site, in both ways, apart from legal problems (many) there are also technical problems (bandwidth, performance, availability, cooling of the server ....).
I'd really like to know why you are putting this up, if it can be told around ...

er, legalities aside, its to host around 8mb of mp3s of his own music with option to download.
i was hoping i could offer him advice re the IP troubles, if any should arise. can ips easily find out if you are hosting? is it illegal to run apache from home for mp3 d/l ing? i tried to find out, but the home site was of no use. i tried calling them, and i was on hold for literally 20 minutes...hmm. so i, er , gave in and hung up, having been driven near insane by repetitive loops of bad instrumental stadium rock.
so, again...(!) if anyone knows about possible problems with ips and the level of sensitivity that some have towards such private venutres, do let me know.
what are the problems with bandwith and access? would he have to set up a dynamic/static address? any links to helpful sites would be great if you havent the time to linger on here too long.
oh, and how about memory/space required for the 8mb? apache provides? cheers

The first thing your ISP will do when they find out that you're hosting something, is send you an email saying "what a naughty fellow!! shut it down!!". But untill then I would not bother about them canceling your account.
>>can ips easily find out if you are hosting?
pretty easily if they try, but most of them don't
>>is it illegal to run apache from home for mp3 d/l ing?
Yes and no. Running server is legal, mp3s are legal as long as they aren't copywrited. Some isp just do not allow http and ftp servers, but my isp for example allowed napster, morpheus and other p2p servers. Go figure.

Don't you guys think this is off-topic?

>> its to host around 8mb of mp3s of his own music

8mb, easily enough. Just sign up with whatever free host. Why bother to run Apache and get your account terminated potentially if you are that worry about the acceptable contents/servers.

>> please email me if you can help

You ask questions here and get your replies here. If you ever need to get a reply via email, find a consultant.