Tele 2 will meet next week with other ISPs to decide whether or not to appeal the case.
This past Monday I reported how the Danish ISP Tele 2 lost a case brought against it by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry(IFPI) after it refused to prevent its customers from accessing The Pirate Bay – one of the world’s largest sources of pirated content.
The ruling was immediately criticized everywhere after being recognized for what it really is – censorship by corporate interests. It’s bad enough when the government restricts the freedom of speech, but when it’s done purely for the economic gain of a few it’s particularly egregious.
“It’s very frightening that IFPI can get through the courts with something like this. In Turkey and China its the state that decides what information the people can access and what should be censored. In Denmark its apparently the record industry,” noted Sebastian Gjerding, spokesperson for Piratgruppen, a pro-piracy lobby.
Tele 2 subsequently complied with the court order and began blocking access to The Pirate Bay, but now plans to meet next Monday with other ISPs to decide whether or not to appeal the decision.
"In this case, we think it is needed to have a clarification of the legal grounds, and that is why we are discussing this with the other companies," said Nicholai Pfeiffer, Chief of Regulations for Tele 2.
The court’s order to begin blocking The Pirate Bay is apparently not without precedent, for last year all of Denmark’s ISPs were ordered to block access to AllofMP3.com, the Russia-based Web site that "illegally" sold music albums for around 99 cents each, and they all complied.
This new case of site blocking brings back the issue of whether or not ISPs should be responsible for content that flows across their networks. Danish ISPs believe they should be neutral in the issue and that the matter should be sorted out between content owners and those that host it.
I think ISPs are right.
[Via ComputerWorld]
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