ISP Forced to Block and Filter Pirated Content on P2P Networks
Written by Ernesto on July 04, 2007A court in Belgium ruled that ISPs can be forced, and are obliged to, either block or filter copyright infringing content on P2P networks. Freedom of expression and privacy are not important in this regard. How exactly ISPs are supposed to block and filter copyrighted content remains a mystery.
It is not clear what methods the ISP (Scarlet) has to implement, but distinguishing copyright infringing and legal content on P2P networks such as BitTorrent is likely to be a tough job, if not, impossible.
The judge thought otherwise (pdf) and, based on claims from a P2P expert, said that ISPs do have the technical means at their disposal to block or filter pirated content on P2P networks. The ISP in question was given six months to implement such measures.
In a response to this news Rick Falkvinge, the leader and founder of the Swedish Pirate Party, told TorrentFreak:
“this confirms what we’ve been saying all along: the record industry wants to abolish postal secrets and freedom of the press in order to maintain their crumbling monopolies. They are actually celebrating the fact that a third unaccountable party gets to inspect everything sent between any and all private individuals, and gets to destroy any undesired communication.”
The ruling by the Belgian court implements EU legislation, and iaccording to the IFPI, it sets an important precedent in the fight against piracy internationally. In a response to the decision IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy said: “This is a decision that we hope will set the mould for government policy and for courts in other countries in Europe and around the world.”
Let’s hope not. And, can anyone explain to me how ISPs are supposed to filter copyright infringing content?
Previously: The Pirate Bay Wants MediaDefender to Walk the Plank to Bankruptcy
Next: ‘Transformers’ Movie-Cammer Facing Prison
26 Responses
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They could simply just go out of business. I guess that would solve it.
They just blanket everything.. Similiar to blocklists in my school.. When you can’t even do research you know somebody has gone tooo far..
Pitiful. Why has no one formed a international technical court? Run by people who actually know the technical limitations and uses of technology.
I’m fearing the day the the government rules that the inter-tubes need to be cleaned because they can’t download a cup of java.
What happens when these “technological measures” fail because people start using encryption, either at the protocol level or the content it’s self? Will they force ISPs to close if they fail to make the delusions of some quack “P2P expert” work? Doing something trivial like Xoring every by say 127 would enough to fool Audible Magic’s software.
if you dont download copyright software, then this isnt really a problem
I suggest those who be unable to go to a p2p site just get tor. I should solve all yer problems till the rest of the ISPs ban ‘em.
[quote comment="128635"]if you dont download copyright software, then this isnt really a problem[/quote]
True, but I’m afraid that the blocking and filtering methods will also effect legal downloads.
They can make the ATTEMPT to filter. Catch a token file or two. The P2P crowd will start double zipping files with nonsense to toss the hash code.
very good news……. the end of malware and other privacy nicking protocols..
we just move to usenet or ipsec2p
@ shitonme
Why don’t you just STFU instead of posting crap?
How do you want them to know if what you’re downloading is legal or illegal huh??????
Get some knowledge, think and maybe you’ll find something interesting to post.
I was recently in a clinic at University of Michigan, where my wife was undergoing a medical procedure. While surfing Digg on a free workstation that the clinic provided,I was prevented by filters from running down a link that described the latest medical marijuana research, and the lack of harm caused by that substance. Out of morbid interest, I then tried a link to a story on cocaine prices around the world, and oddly, I had no problem recieving that information. Some thing is very fishy, here, because, as I said, one story was about legitmate research on a medical subject(denied), the other was more of a human interest story(allowed).
If they can’t block spam there’s no use in trying to tell them to block any other specific content on the internet.
ISPs might be forced to block all p2p traffic in the end - that’s the ultimate goal of the industry groups.
Anyone happen to catch that episode on Dailyshow with the ex head of security for the white house…
If not…
The governments aren’t to date with technology limitations… They just know that if a group that works for them says that they are “Losing Money”
…
you get the point…
@bltz
The problem is, there’s not enough corporate bandwidth to distribute the files individuals and corporations want to move digitally. Legal commercial software that uses p2p technology is coming onto the scene, just as legal commercial software that used mp3 arose.
What frightens me is not government intervention, it’s voluntary “segregation” of the internet by ISPs. What happens when the .coms start offering kickbacks to ISPs for greater bandwidth allotment? It could no longer be cost-efficient to simply provide whatever data transfer the end user wants. As long as there’s a market force that wants open networking, though, we’ll get it, even if startup companies have to lay the cable themselves.
bltz:
While it would be bad enough to have ISP’s forced to block p2p networks, since their use is legit, and thus that would be restriction of consumer rights, not even that is possible: there are a couple of censorship-resistent p2p networks out there that already avoid that (take GNUnet as an example).
If your isp blocks anything or shapes your downloads you can always use a VPN to make it so that they cant monitor where you go, here’s a site that will set you up with a VPN, there is a setup fee but after that it’s free monthly.
http://www.filesharesmart.com
check this out
http://www.postalsecrets.com
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