[Chapter-delegates] Australian court rules in favour of Internet service provider

[Narelle]

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 3:50 PM, Joly MacFie <joly at punkcast.com> wrote:
>
> The main impetus for the case seemed to be that AFACT got angry
> because iiNet refused to serve the "alleged" infringement notices on
> their users, but instead would forward them to the cops.

As the exerpt I posted earlier said, AFACT wanted unspecified steps
taken and ultimately that users be cut off.

> In court AFACT did win one point where iiNet had to admit that the of
> the infringements were proven rather than alleged, nevertheless iiNet
> had it in their terms of use that repeated infringement could get
> users busted, which was sufficient to maintain safe harbor status.

Indeed. The judge found that there had been infringements, although
not as many as alleged by the film industry, and that this is
happening frequently across the world today.


> The key word, and this may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,
> was "authorise" - iiNet in no way authorised illegal activity.

That is the basis of iiNet's win.

> In many
> places merely "contributing" is sufficient to fall foul of statutes,
> am I wrong?

I cannot speak for other jurisdictions.

The other important point is that the judge distinguished between a
"BitTorrent system" and the Internet itself. I could paraphrase this
by saying that "one software system is not the Internet". This is
important in the creation and operation of network protocols: ISOC's
core business! We've been saying for years that "Internet Explorer and
the web is not the Internet".

It was also an interesting case as the judge allowed us to tweet live
from the gallery and the judgement was up on the net shortly after it
was handed down.

Once again, in no way does ISOC-AU endorse illegal activity, and
recognise the need for reward for creative endeavour.

We also look forward to a healthy discussion on the rights of content
providers, the rights of Internet users and the role ISPs *can and
cannot* play in the provision of Internet services.

Certainly an interesting day! We are also hosting a reception with the
CEO of the ISP tonight.


Cheers


-- 


Holly and Narelle
ISOC-AU