Swedish ISP Vows to Protect Users From a Piracy Witch Hunt (torrentfreak.com)

Posted by msmash on Monday April 25, 2016 @08:00AM from the playing-with-fire dept.

Ernesto Van der Sar, reporting for TorrentFreak: Swedish Internet service provider Bahnhof says it will do everything in its power to prevent copyright holders from threatening its subscribers. The provider is responding to a recent case in which a competing ISP was ordered to expose alleged BitTorrent pirates, reportedly without any thorough evidence. At the birth ground of The Pirate Bay, media outfit Crystalis Entertainment received permission from the court to identify several BitTorrent users, based on their IP-addresses. The case, which could be the first of many, was filed against the local ISP TeliaSonera who handed over the requested information without putting up much of a fight. This prompted the competing Internet provider Bahnhof to issue a warning. The company notes that the copyright holder in question doesnâ(TM)t have a very strong case, and it criticizes Telia for caving in too easily.

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Re:The problem is not copyrights by mlts · 2016-04-25 08:47 · Score: 4, Informative

In the past, it was legitimate. Don't copy media, sell it as theirs (as counterfeiting is truly theft.) However, as time has gone on, the bar for IP infringement has gone so low, that with the TTIP, some guy dressing up as Spiderman for a local comic convention can be hit with a six digit fine or prison term. Couple this with the Draconian technological enforcement (more than four people in front of an XBox, movie shuts off), and the spirit of the law has been destroyed. In the past, it was a copyright monopoly for "x" time, then it becomes public domain, for all to use.
The problem is that with extreme punishments (hundreds of millions of dollars for a few MP3 files), people start to have less respect for laws in general, and this not just affects IP law, but law and order as a gestalt.
In the early 2000s, had the RIAA not used heavy handed tactics, but went with tactics that MADD has used to sway public opinion, making the concept of copying MP3s for someone as odious as hitting the road after seven longnecks, things likely would be a lot different.