The Pirate Bay Plunders Argument For Network Neutrality Laws?

from the scurvy-land-lubber dept

Thu, Dec 21st 2006 6:08pm — Karl Bode

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

8 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Panaqqa, 21 Dec 2006 @ 7:19pm

I'd really like to know...
What actually made up Perspektiv's corporate mind. If it was in fact the actions of Pirate Bay, then there may actually be hope that the tide of network neutrality disruptions can be turned back. Somehow, though, I don't think it will prove that easy in a larger country with a much bigger ISP.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Dec 2006 @ 7:47pm

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.
This would only work where there was plenty of broadband competition, i.e. not in countries like the US.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Alex, 21 Dec 2006 @ 8:15pm

One step for man...
Waiting on the leap for mankind. I'm hoping the removal of the ban was result of TPB, because that shows the power of people. But it does concern me that here in the US we don't really have viable options to choose from, like others have said.

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 thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Dec 2006 @ 8:39pm

Chalk one up for the good guys! Nice going Pirate Bay!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Also remember, 21 Dec 2006 @ 10:20pm

Even if tpb pulled this off in this case, it's not likely to work in any other country. A quick look at the comments on any of the torrents would suggest that at least half of tpb visitors are in fact swedes.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Scott, 22 Dec 2006 @ 4:46am

Once again...
Another job well done, Pirate Bay!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sanguine Dream, 22 Dec 2006 @ 7:40am

This worries me...
Yes it its a goog thing to see that customers are important to broadband providers but I don't think that would work in the US where you're lucky to have 2 broadband choices in even the most populace of cities. Here goes:

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 thread ]
Morgan, 22 Dec 2006 @ 5:11pm

Tide of Disruptions?
I'd like to know more about this 'tide of disruptions' that is allegedly occuring. It seems to me that network neutrality advocates want the legislation in place before there's ever a problem or evidence of ongoing problems so that they never need to prove whether it helps or not.

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 thread ]