The Wrong Way To Fight Copyright Violations
from the flawed-and-dangerous dept
Doug Isenberg's latest column takes the music industry to task for their rapidly filed (and just as rapidly withdrawn) lawsuit against backbone providers to stop all access to the site Listen4Ever.com. While he agrees that Listen4Ever was clearly violating copyright laws, trying to force backbone providers to block access to the site would set an awful and dangerous precedent. He even points out that if they could do that, in theory, they could also sue the various browser makers for allowing access to sites they don't like. If it weren't for Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Opera, his modest proposal argument goes, you wouldn't be able to reach Listen4Ever either. As he says, the problem with Listen4Ever isn't access, it's infringement. They should sue for the copyright infringement, not for the simple access of the site.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
