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ISP To Court: BitTorrent Usage Doesn't Equal Piracy (torrentfreak.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The music industry has long argued that evidence of BitTorrent is evidence of piracy, and ISPs have generally gone along with them. But now, ISP Cox Communications is pushing back against that claim. They have been sued by publishers for failing to halt service for users alleged to have pirated music. Not only has Cox argued that the piracy evidence is invalid, they're also contesting the idea that BitTorrent is only used for piracy (PDF). "Instead of generalizing BitTorrent traffic as copyright infringement, the music companies should offer direct proof that Cox subscribers pirated their work. Any other allegations are inappropriate and misleading according to Cox." The company says, "the Court should preclude Plaintiffs from relying on mere innuendo that BitTorrent inherently allows individuals to infringe Plaintiffs' copyrights."
I suspect what is starting to happen is COX is starting to realize that before it was fairly passive, all they had to do was hand over info. However, with TIPP and other programs being pushed through it will cost them actual dollars to police for the entertainment industry, payments that can not be so easy to extract from users. They want to now make sure that burden is placed on the entertainment industry and not themselves. There is no altruistic goal here, just who has to pay.
Bittorrent is a protocol. Almost anything that uses p2p in the backend is using bittorrent. Game updates, OS updates, linux distros, this can and is being done via the bittorrent protocol. Windows 10 offers peering for updates to your local network and even to the internet, while I didn't dig deep into it, this is p2p at its core, while it may not be using bittorrent (TM) but the technology is essentially the same. Peering. Without bittorrent and similar technology, we can expect the internet to fall apart as soon as all those developing nations login and start streaming HD. IRC is a huge source of piracy, so me logging into a linux support channel makes me a pirate? Just using the torrent protocol makes me a pirate? It's well above and beyond a "defense". If we allow them to paint anyone using that protocol as a criminal, what's next? Email? Newsgroups? IM? As long as there is a system and a method to allow data sharing, data will be shared. As long as there is data, people will want to share it. I personally feel that technology has been ignored to back shelved because of the stigma put on torrents. It comes up during any discussion around traffic. "We all know what bittorrent is for...." No, we know what a lot of people use it for, and we know what it was designed for, and the two are not mutually exclusive.
See the following video for more info.
The trend of presenting info only as a video disappoints me. For those who cannot watch video, such as while on break at work or on a metered connection, is there a transcript?
Do you have evidence to support this? Or are you just pulling a number out of your ass?
It is a protocol. It has "significant non-infringing" uses.
What the copyright cartel wants to do is equate using a protocol with piracy, without evidence. And then once they've done that, they want to say that individuals using that protocol must have engaged in piracy. I'm sorry, this is the legal equivalent of "if she weighs less than a duck, then she is therefore a witch".
So, no more than you can make the argument that owning a car allows you to speed, therefore if you own a car you speed ... the copyright lawyers don't just get to make shit up and call it facts.
If the courts allow this, they've completely lost the plot, and the copyright cartel will be able to deem innuendo and supposition is legally admissible. And that would be a terrible idea.
Sorry, but no. The copyright cartel bought some bad laws in the form of the DMCA and other things. And one of the many things they wanted was to give themselves almost zero standard for evidence or penalty for misusing the system -- which means they want a law which allows them to do anything they want without consequence or oversight.
It really is time to rein them in with a much shorter leash and remind them they don't get to make up "facts" to suit themselves. Because somewhere along the line they've bought themselves laws which gives them all the power, and no responsibility.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Besides, how am I supposed to get the news at work without everyone knowing I am goofing off?
If you post a video, post a transcript. But don't post videos.
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