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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Belgian court rules that ISPs must block file-sharing
In article <[email protected]> you write: > >http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134159-c,internetlegalissues/article.html > >Note that this is based on their interpretation of EU law. > > > --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb "The court has confirmed that the ISPs have both a legal responsibility and the technical means to tackle piracy. This is a decision that we hope will set the mold for government policy and for courts in other countries in Europe and around the world," IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy said in a statement. Someone has succeeded in pulling the wool over the court's eyes if it has been convinced that there is a technical mechanism to do this. A ISP does not have access to enough information to determine this. The same file can be both legally and illegally copied over the same network. What determines the legality is the standing of the parties doing the copying not the actual content. Even content that is illegal to possess may still be legally transmitted when such content is evidence. There is only one technological fix that will be 100% effective and that is to shutdown the network. There is absolutely no way that a ISP can determine is any file transfer is illegal or not. This means no HTTP, no SMTP, no anything. Mark
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