UK ISPs Reject Call to Police Video Sharing

Earlier this week I4U News reported that officials in the UK wanted to ban Internet users who illegally traded copyrighted materials from getting Internet access in the UK in an attempt to stop online pirating of digital content. UK Internet providers are rejecting the idea of being forced to police the traffic on their networks.

According to the Internet firms they are a “mere conduit” and that attempting to force them to police the content being transferred over their networks presents significant legal and technological problems. Part of the technical issues around stopping specific types of content like video sharing is that some video sharing is done legally and it’s hard to tell the difference between legal sharing and illegal pirating.

A spokes man for the Internet Providers Association told BBC News, “the 2002 E-Commerce Regulations defined net firms as “mere conduits” and not responsible for the contents of the traffic flowing across their networks.” The spokesman also added that laws on surveillance prohibit ISPs from inspecting the content of data packets without being compelled to do so by a warrant.

Via BBC News

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