Comments on: British ISPs stand firm after file-sharing ruling

Internet service providers maintain they should not be liable for illegal P2P file-sharing over their networks.

[GrandpaN1947]

Baby Rapers

That argument is like saying you know children are being raped in your house but you shouldn't be held accountable to try to stop it.

ISP'S will lose in court over this.

[umbrae]

Incorrect...

The argument is nothing like that. It is more like someone ordering Child Pornography to your address and picking it up from your mailbox. Most likely you would never see this person, the Child Porn, or even know this was happening.

Do you deserve to go to jail for this?

ISPs are in a similar situation. They only allow people to use their networks. Without a person spying on all your activity, there is no way to know what you are doing.

[alflanagan]

Re: Baby Rapers

You're equating sharing a Britney Spears song to raping babies? You've lost it, Grandpa.

[chuck_whealton]

ISPs in court

I believe they'll loose in court also. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of the RIAA or their European counterpart, but if reasonably priced technology exists to prevent it and they don't use it, then how should the court respond?

Older rulings letting ISPs off the hook for everything under the sun are outdated with today's technology.

Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com

[paidfare]

Baby~~~

Can a landlord be held responsible & be required to police his tenants to insure that they do not, or can not copy anything that may be available via an internet,cable or satellite service?

Now it is my opinion that most cable, satellite and Internet service providers would wither and fall dead like leaves in autumn if access to content and/or functionality was restricted.
Who would subscribe to a service that can't deliver the goods?

Here in enlightened Colonial Canada we have eliminated music piracy by placing a tax on the tools used by copiers. Blank CDs, recording tape, Ipods, memory, harddrives etc. all have a special tax that is collected at point of sale and is distributed to the artists.
In essence, here in the Great White North anyone can make a copy of any recorded music for their personal use. You are not allowed to sell, trade, copy on behalf of, or give away anything you copy. However, you can borrow an original CD from a friend and copy it for yourself legally.

Only in Canada, you say? What a pity!!

[Renegade Knight]

The Ruling Lacks Wisdom

This ruling lacks wisdom.

Newspaper stands are not responsible for the errors contained in the newspapers they sell.
Libraries are not responsible for plagerism, errors, source citing issues for their content.
ISP's carry traffic. Nothing more. They do not enable piracy any more than Roads enable bank robbery. People will use whatever tool is handy. The tool is not at fault.

The EU better fix this ruling or they can kiss their internet advantage goodbye.

[alflanagan]

Ultimately Won't Matter

The fact the whole argument is avoiding is that the ISPs will ultimately be unable to stop file sharing. You can talk about filters and policing servers, etc., all you want, but every one of these can be gotten around. You'd have to shut the Internet down, or rebuild it from the ground up -- and make no mistake, that's some people's agenda here. Many people even in "free" countries find the implications of true free speech disturbing, and will fight it with any tool they can find.