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UK Wants To Force ISPs to Block File Sharing
October 25, 2007
Article
While Denmark considers a flate-rate fee for unlimited P2P downloads, the UK is considering forcing ISPs to ban p2p entirely. "We have some simple choices to make," insists one lawmaker. "If creative artists can't earn a living as a result of the work they produce, then we will kill off creative artists and that would be a tragedy."
Wow. P2P users surely are powerful, if their theft of the Led Zeppelin discography can prevent the human culture from creating art entirely. Given the technical hurdles of such vast filters and the legal liability of being content watchdogs, UK ISPs aren't having it:
"ISPA does not support abuses of copyright and intellectual property theft," said an ISPA spokesman. He said: "However, ISPs cannot monitor or record the type of information passed over their network. ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope."
There's been a similar push here in the States. NBC has been pushing lawmakers to force everyone from router makers to ISPs to employ piracy filters. Others are eager to start regulating and locking down p2p use because they believe it's a national security risk.
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