Music industry guns for ISPs

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY is telling ISPs to shut down whoever it reckons is a pirate, without recourse to a court, or even evidence.

According to the Independent, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, is threatening that if an ISP tells them to go forth and multiply, they will end up in the dock instead of the 'pirate'.

John Kennedy, the chairman of the IFPI said that large amounts of illegally shared files are transported over ISP networks and it was about time that they took responsibility for it.

Kennedy said he would prefer to work in partnership with the ISPs but was frustrated by companies that have not acted against customers involved in illegal activity.

He thinks that ISPs should disconnect users who refuse to stop exchanging music files illegally as it is a breach of a customer's contract.

However as a spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association pointed out, ISPs are "mere conduits of information" that can not be held liable for offences committed by customers. "ISPs cannot inspect every packet of data transmitted over their networks," he said.

A spokeswoman for the ISP Tiscali, said the IFPI had to prove that the user was engaged in illegal activity and that the music organisation should share the cost of resolving disputes. Last year Tiscali refused to close the accounts of 17 customers who the British Phonographic Industry claimed were involved in illegal file sharing. They said that the evidence provided by the BPI was just too flimsy. µ