No, that's exactly the point. If water distribution worked in the way that utility companies just laid the pipes, connected them to those of other utilites, and otherwise did not care about what sort of water anybody pumped into them, water quality would drop pretty fast.

But agreed, I am stretching this example very far now to make "water as a utility" conform to "Internet as a utility" - which maybe goes to show that they are not quite the same and might benefit from not treating them the same.

I still don't understand your analogy. How is 8Chan affecting "water quality" in this analogy? They were not harming the quality of service Cloudflare provides to their customers in any way, were they? The same goes for the water company providing service to 8Chan's owner; providing service to 8Chan doesn't affect the quality of service to their other customers.

Unless any of the people who were killed in El Paso were Cloudflare customers

Sure, but you could say exactly the same thing about a water or electrical utility.

It doesn't matter. Cloudflare is a private company, and as a private company, they have a right to discontinue any service with anyone as long as it isn't some sort of discriminatory act based on a protected class.

Considering that 8chan has a proclivity to be a haven for mass shooters, the site needs to be excessively curtailed regardless of whether they're affecting the businesses services directly or not just for the sole fact that they don't seem to police the people or content that are on the site.

For example, do you think a business shouldn't fire an individual after he committed a murder of some person who isn't affiliated with the company?

>Considering that 8chan has a proclivity to be a haven for mass shooters, the site needs to be excessively curtailed regardless of whether they're affecting the businesses services directly or not just for the sole fact that they don't seem to police the people or content that are on the site.

I'll bet more mass shooters spend time on facebook than 8chan. When are they getting shut down?

Would you make that same argument for electrical or water utility companies? Why or why not?