UK ISP That Used To Cut Off Users On Accusation Now Wants Court Order
from the see-what-publicity-can-do dept
It's amazing what a little publicity can do. Often when we write about things here, people who disagree with us post comments along the lines of "if you don't like it, stop talking about it and change it." They say this as if getting some publicity on a bad situation doesn't help change it. A few weeks ago, we wrote about Karoo, an ISP in the UK that wasn't just taking claims of unauthorized file sharing from the entertainment industry against its customers at face value, but was cutting them off on the very first accusation, with no real recourse. Except, after all the publicity from the original BBC report and others discussing it, Karoo quickly caved in, and said it would switch to a three strikes policy. Now, a few weeks later, the company is admitting that it will only disconnect someone over file sharing if it gets a court order. So in the period of just a few weeks, a little publicity turned a bad situation into a much better one.
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
Filed Under: publicity, sunlight, three strikes, uk
Companies: karoo
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Well
Wait...that's not right...oh hell, now I'm all confused.
Who's on First?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
"Hey, they want a court order"
"Damn - that means the judge will want some form of evidence"
"Ah, screw it. Let's just sue and hope they settle..."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Any other ISP in any other part of the country would not even try something so draconic as all their banned customers could move to any of the 100 possible competitors within a few days
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Just to clarify...
Quite another when those who comment do it. As if this UK ISP (or other idiotic system changing business) would ever show up here, read the comments, then change.
THAT'S just wishful thinking on those getting screwed.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Just to clarify...
"Except, after all the publicity from the original BBC report and others discussing it, Karoo quickly caved in, and said it would switch to a three strikes policy"
Last time I checked, Techdirt != BBC.
[ link to this | view in thread ]