It scares me because iiNet have done nothing wrong, despite claims by the AFACT that they “allowed distribution of copyrighted material”. iiNet cannot, by law, monitor what it’s users do with their connections without a court order. The AFACT seem to be assuming that because they believe a user is downloading movies or music via bittorrent, iiNet should know too. After all, they are the ones providing the internet connection. However, conclusive proof needs to be given, and unless iiNet monitors its user’s connections, it cannot confirm or deny any claims by AFACT. So iiNet rightly forwarded the allegations to the police. The AFACT, however, do not like this. They want iiNet to disconnect infringing users. But iiNet does not want to lose customers on a baseless accusation, and they cannot comfirm the AFACT’s claims without breaking the law. How can anyone expect them to act any differently?
The number one reason it scares me, however, is if iiNet loses the case it could mean that ISPs will be forced to disconnect users if they are accused of downloading copyrighted material, regardless of whether they have or not. I don’t want my internet disconnected just because I connected to a torrent tracker to download perfectly legal data, for example: linux distributions, movies for which copyright has expired, etc.
The AFACT shows just how ignorant they are about how the internet works. If they block one medium of distribution, many more will arise from the ashes; look what happened with Napster: it was taken down, but the came Kazaa, and Limewire and the gnutella network, and bittorrent, and so on. The industry needs to adapt to the Internet age if it is to maintain the profits it has supposedly been losing to piracy. It is its unwillingness to let go of past business models that has got it into its present mess.
#1 by John Oliver on 10 April, 2009 - 1:51 PM
Good post. Thought-provoking.
I’ll tell you what really frightens me. It’s that I believe the AFACT does know how the internet works and they do know the correct legal position and workings. They aren’t fools; they’ve got good techies and good lawyers as well.
It’s frightening that they know all this and yet they proceed with their plans anyway. They are prepared to bully anyone and to get the lawmakers onside with them. They are not just prepared to “bend” the rules; they want to totally re-make them to suit themselves and to hell with anybody who disagrees.
And it’s frightening that the lawmakers and the government allow themselves to be used so that AFACT, RIAA & MPAA can get their own way.
And it’s even more frightening that we ordinary citizens allow it to happen and watch our rights get eroded and do nothing.
Sure, piracy is illegal, but this is the thin edge of the wedge, isn’t it?
Time to wake up.
#2 by Les on 19 September, 2009 - 4:43 AM
My website was disconnected without warning an hour ago, without notice by iiNet.
20 min later, my ADSL2+ Internet Connection was also disconnected without notice by iiNet.
Just luck that I have a backup wireless connection.
Be Warned. If it happened to me, it can just as easily happen you.
Both happened after I had just paid $30 for another domain name, and $160 for a years web hosting which I never even got to use.
I first found out when the Username & Password I was sent by iiNet didn’t work. NICE!
Welcome to Communist China. I believe Nazi Germany started via censorship.
Be careful when obtaining a new Domain Name or Web Hosting. Their quite happy to accept your money, but that’s no indication that you’ll ever get to use it, or even your existing internet connection.
Ask Heaps of Questions First and get the Answers in Writing ! Their word is woth NOTHING. I’m moving to a freer China!