| Australian Music Industry Sues ISP |
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Up to this point ISPs have been considered innocent bystanders, for the most part, in the ongoing music piracy fight. They have long claimed that they can not control what individual users do with the service provided without violating numerous privacy laws and policies and it has worked for them as this is the first case anywhere where an ISP is being sued directly. The ARIA's suit claims that E-Talk is directly profitting from music piracy and as a result is seeking its pound of flesh. 'This case proves what the music industry has been saying about the Internet industry for many years, that music piracy is an integral part of the ISP business model,' Speck told ZDNet Australia. Speck claims to have proof that the ISPs do in fact know how much file-sharing is being done on their networks and is doing nothing to stop them. The charges stemmed from an 11 month investigation into www.mp3s4free.net, which was hosted by E-Talk subsidiary Comcen Internet Services, by MIPI. --- This is dangerous ground that the ARIA is walking. A win for them in this case will have drastic implications not only in Australia, but the rest of the world. ISPs provide a service and the people using the service are not expecting to be policed while online. If the ARIA wins, ISPs will be forced to watch over what its users are doing which will most certainly increase costs and certainly increase the number of calls that tech support will receive. Consider for a moment that someone stole my cell phone while I was on your property. Normally I would take that person to court as that person is the only party that commited a crime. If I were the ARIA however, I would also take you to court for providing a place for said thief to steal my property. I have long said that people should be held accountable for their actions, and they should though there should also be limitations. Should the ISPs be responsible for what happens on their networks? The network admin part of me says yes, the consumer part of me says no. While I would love it if the ISPs would get on the customers who are unknowingly sending out hundreds of viruses to my inbox, I don't think it is their job to monitor users. If you park in a parking lot and your car door is scratched, is it the parking lot owners fault because they weren't watching? Hardly. No, the ISPs should not be held accountable for this. It would either drastically increase the cost of service or it would force ISPs to put severe limitations in place. Either way would see ISPs losing money and customers which would undoubtably force a number of them out of business. The ARIA claims that ISPs are directly profiting from file-sharing. While this may be the case in the suit against E-Talk, as they hosted an illegal site, this is not the case for 99.999% of the service providers. While it can be argued that the providers of fast broadband connections are profiting from file-sharing, it is not something I have seen ISPs actively promote. The crux of the matter still boils down to the industry falling behind in technology and said technology moving on without them. The industry failed to see the revenue potential offered by the internet just as the MPAA failed to see the revenue offered by VCRs in 1984. It took a computer company to show the industry that money can, and will, be made on the internet -- with or without them. With information from this story. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          Add your comment
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