The Pirate Bay Plunders Argument For Network Neutrality Laws?
from the scurvy-land-lubber dept
Last week we noted how a Swedish ISP named Perspektiv decided to prevent all of their broadband customers from accessing the discount Russian music store AllofMp3.com because of "moral concerns." In retaliation, the popular Swedish BitTorrent search website Pirate Bay decided to ban all of Perspektiv's customers in kind, hoping user complaints would change Perspektiv's mind. The move raised a number of questions over what would happen if Internet users were caught in the middle of unlimited vendettas resulting in service blockades -- their connectivity pockmarked by which companies their ISP managed to piss off. Apparently the tactic worked, as Perspektiv has lifted the ban on AllOfMp3, admitting that the decision was "hasty" and "not within the framework" of their business. Money talks, and it's no great secret that piracy helps drive broadband adoption, usually resulting in ISPs turning a blind eye. More interesting perhaps is the questions this raises about the need for network neutrality laws, since this dispute was ultimately resolved with customers holding a company accountable, and all connectivity restored.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
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
I'd really like to know...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
One step for man...
I used to have Adelphia, but that got bought up by Time Warner Cable (a subcompany of Time Warner Inc, which also owns AOL).
So yeah, the hole is being dug deeper.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Once again...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This worries me...
Telco exec:"Lets block our broadband customers from using that Pirate Bay site."
Allofmp3.com CEO(or whatever the head person is):"Lets block the ISP's of all customers that user that provider that blocked Pirate Bay."
Telco exec:"So what if Allofmp3 block all of our customers. Those people don't have any other broadband choice so it's not like they can go to a competitor. And besides the RIAA wanted us to find a way to do that years ago this way we liable. If the customers complain we can tell them that Allofmp3 blocked them, not us. So we get to keep a stanglehhold on our customers, we keep getting money from the RIAA, and we helped deal a major blow to piracy."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tide of Disruptions?
Once it's in place, you can make up all kinds of nightmare scenarios to rolling it back. And you never have to face up to all the potential innovations that never happen because of the legislation. Or the fact that a new Internet regulatory agency is worse than the alleged problem in the first place.
I wonder if I'll be able to sue my mobile provider under network neutrality laws for not making every website available on my handset. More likely is that they'll discontinue the service to avoid trouble, and a lot of potential services will never even start.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]