[wellylug] piracy - was: Re: broadband recommendations, etc

[Mark Foster]

On Sun, 16 Sep 2007, Atom Smasher wrote:

> On Sun, 16 Sep 2007, Mark Foster wrote:
>
>> uh... hangon.. .you felt it important enought o point this out?
>>
>> Oh.. wait.. piracy is illegal... right?
>>
>> Problem is... ?
> ==========================
>
> of course, piracy is illegal. that doesn't mean that every time the
> RIAA/MPAA *alleges* that someone is pirating a work that they claim
> ownership of, that it's true.
>
> i could host a linux distro on bit-torrent... does that mean that my ISP
> should shut me down if SCO (via BSA) sends them a DMCA letter?
>
> piracy is a matter for the courts, if it goes that far. i'm grateful for
> the info, because i'd rather not vote (with my dollars) for an ISP that
> serves the interest of the RIAA/MPAA rather than paying customers. OTOH,
> multiple complaints over time... that could indicate a real problem.
> otherwise, ISPs need to have a spam filter on RIAA/MPAA complaints.
>

Mr Smasher, sir...

Dya suppose that ISPs are going to shut you down because you use P2P?

Dya think that'd ever hold up if challenged in court? In the USA or 
elsewhere?

I don't think so.
In one of my former positions I worked for a Major NZ ISP and assisted 
them processing inbound abuse@ reports of piracy, among other things.

The information that the RIAA or MPAA are going to send through _has_ to 
cite the act of downloading the actual media - indicating what it is - and 
thus establishing that the law has infact been broken.  In order to stand 
up from a legal POV the RIAA/MPAA had better be on solid ground.

The ISP is not going to act on someone who is merely using the technology, 
most especially for legitimate purposes - eg downloading F/OSS ISO's.  Nor 
are they going to pay attention to a complaint where theres no 
confirmation that there is infact a broken law involved (to use SCO as an 
example).  So the RIAA/MPAA also have to be able to prove to the ISP's 
satisfaction that a crime has been committed.

Most ISPs can quite legitimately point out that the laws that the 
MPAA/RIAA are attempting to have enforced would only apply within their 
own country from a jurisdictional point of view - which is the grounds 
under which most ISPs would ignore said complaints (I believe).

But if you are caught deliberately breaching copyright law by pirating 
media, then the ISP is within its rights to act, based on the terms & 
conditions of service you agree to when you sign up.  Generally, these 
are pretty much the same regardless of your provider.

Sorry for the rant, but your argument holds no water with me.  Any ISP 
choosing to suspend a user's account for the mere use of P2P would find 
themselves on the front page of Computerworld fairly quickly, I think...