Copyright Law

Swedish ISPs Ignore Request to Block The Pirate Bay

By soulxtc

Ignore demands by the IFPI following the conviction of the BitTorrent tracker site founder’s for facilitating copyright infringement.

The recent conviction of the founders of Swedish BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay has apparently emboldened the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), who was part of the entertainment industry team suing the site for copyright infringement-related damages, to demand ISPs in that country begin blocking access to the site by customers.

But, according to reports, the ISPs have refused to comply with the request, saying that the ruling applies to those charged and convicted, not to them.

“In part, this is not a legally binding decision, but above all, this is a judgment against Pirate Bay and nothing that effects any service provider,” said Patrik Hiselius, a lawyer at ISP Telia Sonera to the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper. “We will not take any action (to block) the contents if we are not compelled to do so.”

ISPs Bredbandsbolaget and Com Hem echoed his sentiments, with the former emphasizing that it’s not the job of an ISP to dictate what sites customers can or cannot visit.

“We will not censor sites for our customers; that is not our job,” added Jon Karlung, managing director of Bahnhofs. “I am against anything that contradicts the principle of a free and open Internet.”

I suppose the IFPI thinks it easier to intimidate people than to try and follow the rule of law.

Kudos to the aforementioned ISPs for standing up to the IFPI.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on April 23, 2009 (boomark / email).