Legislation exempts ISPs from being accused of copyright infringement by subscribers, and "restricts" Internet access to users accused of illegal file-sharing more than twice.
"Threes-strikes" legislation targeting illegal file-sharing is making its way around the globe, and Taiwan is the latest battleground in the fight to curb copyright infringement.
For last Tuesday the Taiwanese legislature passed an amendment to the island’s Copyright Act requiring ISPs to "restrict," the precise definition of which is still vague, though one report uses the word "withdrawn," Internet access by those accused of illegally downloading copyrighted material more than twice.
Some have already objected to the punishment by noting that some of the accused could have accidentally downloaded copyrighted material.
"That’s not really the point," said Margaret Chen, deputy director general of Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Office. "These people are doing something they shouldn’t be doing in the first place. Besides, there are lots of ways to restrict Internet access besides cutting it off entirely."
But, isn’t the point? Researchers have already proven that BitTorrent users are prone to false copyright infringement claims so why should Taiwan’s system be any different?
It’s unclear when the legislation will become law, but it comes on the heels of different outcomes for similar "three-strikes" legislation elsewhere. Early last month South Korea’s National Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting & Communications (CCSTB&C) passed a bill to also amend the country’s copyright law, while a few weeks ago in France the “Creation and Internet” law suffered a shocking defeat.
An interesting footnote in all of this is that some say the enhance copyright enforcement legislation is meant to placate "litigation-happy foreign rights holders."
So once again we see the long arm of Hollywood reaching across the globe to force ISPs to scrutinize customer data transfers. Isn’t two consecutive years of record-breaking profits enough to ease copyright infringement concerns just a bit?
jared@zeropaid.com
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Not so sure this is a good thing!