If we
can't bother the ISP we will have to bully innocents
The content industry has warned that it will have to go
back to its old ways of dragging people through courts and charging them with
piracy.
The content industry had been hoping that it could get
ISPs to do their dirty work for them. Under its plan it would order ISPs to
shut off pirates. However a landmark court case in Australia decided that
ISPs were not responsible for piracy and could tell the Content industry to go
forth and multiply.
Sabiene Heindl, general manager of the music industry's
anti-piracy arm, Music Industry Piracy Investigations, said that the Federal
Court decision suggests that copyright owners broadly may have no choice but to
sue individuals for illegal file-sharing. This would be a most unfortunate
outcome.
The content industry had no success in tackling piracy
with individual court cases and earnt itself a lot of bad publicity by dragging
kids, old and dead people into court claiming that they were pirates. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said he was
awaiting the outcome of the iiNet case before deciding whether there was a need
for legislative change. Yesterday, his spokeswoman said the government would
examine the decision before making any further comment.
Conroy is entirely on the side of the content industry
and has rubbished iiNet's defence in the past.