It'll probably just get deleted, but at least I tried. I figured some of you may appreciate reading the e-mail I just sent to the RIAA.
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I am the owner of a small web development company. My company mainly focuses on web site hosting and design. We do not offer any kind of internet access service to our customers, however an article in "The Inquirer" located at: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7283 recently caught my attention. Specifically the quote "HILARY ROSEN -- Jack Valenti's RIAA female clone -- has now gone on record saying that as part of the fight against music piracy, ISPs should be held accountable for the actions of their users and charged a fee for giving their customer's access to services such as Kazaa or Morpheus."
I find it outrageous that Mrs. Rosen feels that ISPs should be held accountable for their users actions. I agree that if an ISP finds material on their network which was uploaded by a user and is illegal, that it should immediately be removed from the ISPs servers. This is understandable since the servers are actual property of the ISP. However to go as far as to say the ISP should be accountable for what their users do is outrageous! What Mrs. Rosen is saying is completely identical to saying phone companies should be held accountable for their subscribers making prank calls. It is absolutely ludicrous.
It is impossible to track every internet users actions. Which you already know considering that your web site has been defaced on various occasions, and the hackers have still not been found. If you cannot track down a few punk kids that hacked your web site, how can you possibly expect ISPs to keep track of 100% of it's users actions? It is no easy task, and virtually impossible to do.
I understand and agree that piracy is illegal and wrong, however, you guys have to stop trying to hold everyone else responsible for one person's actions. Sure it would be easier to shut down an ISP and deny thousands of people internet access just to stop one law breaker. But that is ridiculous. The RIAA is not held responsible for actions of the artists you service, so why should ISPs be held responsible for the actions of the users it services? Did the RIAA get bought to court when an Ozzy fan committed suicide after listening to "Suicide Solution"? No, Ozzy was taken to court. If that family took the same approach you are taking against ISPs, the RIAA would have been held responsible, not Ozzy. And you know as well as I do that the RIAA would not be held responsible for the actions of the artist.
So first you focused on the users that had pirated mp3s. Then you started focusing on the file sharing services such as Napster. Now you are focusing on ISPs. Who is next, the phone companies that provide the T1 service to the ISPs? When will the insanity stop? Focus on shutting down the criminals, not small ISPs that don't have millions of dollars to fight you in court. Has it ever occurred to you that there is most likely someone who uses the very same ISP as you do, who has illegal material on their computer? Why should your ISP be held responsible? ISPs offer internet access, they are not your personal police officers. If you want these ISPs to start bending over backwards to help track thieves, then maybe you should start paying the ISPs for the time you expect them to spend. Or better yet, since you seem to feel that it is such an easy task, why don't you go pay some developers to create an anti-piracy system for the ISPs to install? You seem to have enough money to bully these companies around in court, how about you actually do something that will help the issue instead of throwing your weight around?
I hope this letter will help you realize that your approach is hurting everyone, not only the ISPs, but yourselves as well.
