And some good news from down under
I actually just learned about this whole chain of events today, thanks - once again - to Ray Beckerman. (Keep up the good work, mate - the world needs more people like you!)
It started off with Australian ISP iiNet being sued by members of the MPAA (or rather, their international representatives) for not waving a magic wand and defeating the evil Internet media pirates using their services.
In other words, iiNet refused to pull the plug on customers whom the MPAA's reps accused of sharing movies over BitTorrent - iiNet's response was basically "It's not our job to investigate this, so we're forwarding your complaints on to the proper authorities - namely, the police." (Which, I might add, is the proper - and, moreover, ONLY LEGAL - response.)
It later turned out that one of the supposed "infringers" was actually an investigator hired by the MPAA's agents. (If memry serves, had the police been the ones to pull a stunt like this, iiNet would likely have had grounds for a countersuit, because such behavior is considered entrapment - and illegal.) However, iiNet stood by their actions (as well they should).
Then, just last week, the verdict in the iiNet case was handed down. The judge's decision?
iiNet: 1, AFACT+MPAA: 0
To quote from the story:
"I find that iiNet simply can't be seen as approving infringement," said Justice Cowdroy.
Justice Cowdroy found iiNet users had infringed copyright by downloading films on BitTorrent, but he found that the number of infringers was far less than alleged by AFACT.
More importantly, Justice Cowdroy said that the "mere provision of access to internet is not the means to infringement".
"Copyright infringement occured as result of use of BitTorrent, not the Internet," he said. "iiNet has no control over BitTorrent system and not responsible for BitTorrent system."
The fact worldwide piracy was rife "does not necessitate or compel a finding of authorisation, just because it is felt there is something that must be done", he said.
And now, thanks to this ruling, the Australian ISP Exetel has announced that it's no longer going to block Internet access to alleged filesharers. (Of course, they could have simply stood up alongside iiNet and said "Hey, it's not our job to police the internets. You think someone's committed a crime? THEN GO TALK TO THE POLICE!" . . . but it's better than nothing.)
I wonder how this will translate into other countries . . .