NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] RIAA and lawsuits
[ Some of you may have seen Bob's message already with my comments.
I believe that a hardware failure may have caused some of you not
to receive that note. Bob's original message and my comments
are included again below. Sorry for any duplication.
-- Lauren ]
------- Forwarded Message
From: "Bob Frankston" <Bob19-0501@bobf.frankston.com>
To: "'Lauren Weinstein'" <lauren@vortex.com>, <nnsquad@nnsquad.org>
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:54:33 -0500
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: RIAA to stop suing file-sharers,
will work with ISPs to cut off repeat offenders
So now the ISPs are going to act as content police? Why do we have service
providers rather than access providers? It's as if we didn't get water from
the city but had to buy soda, flushes, baths etc. Will the users have any
recourse - or will they be deemed to be violating the terms of service which
control the moral intent of the use of the services?
Having to choose among censors is not the same thing as free speech -
remember that these companies exist thanks to the Supreme Court's
willingness to compromise free speech under the presumption of scarcity -
these aren't private companies acting privately, these are companies charged
with doing the best they can to maintain our rights.
[ Several issue here. First, keep in mind that "free speech rights"
in a Constitutional context generally apply to government actions,
not to private parties. And I would suspect that most ISPs would
suggest that they have never been charged with the requirement of
maintaining our rights. Of course, laws can be changed.
Note that the RIAA apparently plans to continue with their current
queue of already filed lawsuits (though with how much enthusiasm
remains to be seen) and reserves the right to file new lawsuits in
the future against file-sharing targets if they choose to.
There is indeed considerable speculation that the ISPs have little
to gain and much to lose by participating in the new RIAA regime.
Cooperating ISPs will now need to deal with a continuing flow of
RIAA notifications (sending a notification to an ISP is simpler
than filing a lawsuit against a target). Also, ISPs are likely to
find themselves dragged into the disputes, and probably legal
actions as well in extreme cases, that will result from the
inevitable false accusations that will be triggered by faulty RIAA
analysis and resulting notifications.
Another fascinating aspect is the practicality of cutting people
off from the Net in a "three strikes" manner. Is there going to
be a blacklist to try prevent forbidden users from going to any
other available ISPs (where such ISP options exist, of course)?
Given the rush of private and public/governmental services to the
Internet, is cutting people off from the Net much more practical
than condemning them to a life without electricity? I've been
pondering this question for some time in the context of judges
ruling that released computer-crime or Internet sex-related felons
stay away from computers and the Net. Now we potentially may
see a significant expansion of persons who (in theory at least)
are supposed to be "Netless Individuals" -- the ramifications
of this are not at all clear.
-- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]
- -----Original Message-----
From: nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org
[mailto:nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org] On Behalf Of
Lauren Weinstein
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 23:07
To: nnsquad@nnsquad.org
Cc: lauren@vortex.com
Subject: [ NNSquad ] RIAA to stop suing file-sharers, will work with ISPs to
cut off repeat offenders
RIAA to stop suing file-sharers, will work with ISPs to cut off repeat
offenders
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/19/technology/AP-Music-Downloading-L
awsuits.html
- --Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com