[LINK] Other forms of copyright theft

[Adam Todd]

At 05:25 PM 28/06/2007, Kim Holburn wrote:
>This ISP is deleting everyone's files, assuming them to be copied
>illegally.  Is this copyright theft?

Ahhh this is a real issue it is!

Right now I have such files being sent to me from around the world 
for a film project.  All the files are original works.

What right does the ISP have to decide that the files that people are 
painfully sending to me from around the world are a violation of 
copyright and hence deleting them?

What's worse is, some people have licenced music they keep on a 
server or have licenced music to use on their web pages.  Lets not 
even go into Creative Commons and Public Domain music, which there is 
so damn much out on the net you could never catalogue it all.

I think the users would be VERY VERY pissed off if the downloaded 
file they paid $35 to be able to use on their web page was deleted 
without their consent!

The fact that the ISP is deleting the files is a crime in it's own 
right.  I think it's around Section 471 of the Crimes Act.  I think 
it might also be a breach of Trade Practices, unless it's written 
into the user agreement signed by the user when they enter into 
service.  (I doubt it is!)



><http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070627-isp-as-copyright-cop- 
>aussie-isp-kills-all-user-multimedia-files-nightly.html>
>>ISP as copyright cop: Aussie ISP kills all user multimedia files
>>nightly
>>
>>By Eric Bangeman | Published: June 27, 2007 - 09:01AM CT
>>
>>Envision a world where your ISP does the copyright policing at the
>>behest of the movie studios, television networks, and music labels,
>>where no copyrighted content stays up on a user's account for more
>>than 24 hours. It sounds like a dream for Big Content, but it's
>>also a nightmare for customers of Australian ISP Exetel.
>>
>>An Exetel support page which features the top ten support questions
>>from the previous month. A frequently asked question from customers
>>is why their multimedia files keep disappearing from their
>>accounts. Exetel says that it takes a "hard approach to copyright
>>issues," and since April 2005 the ISP has run a script that deletes
>>all multimedia content with common extensions
>>including .avi, .mp3, .wmv, and .mov.
>>
>>That would certainly have the effect of removing any copyrighted
>>content that shouldn't be there, but it also makes it hard for
>>customers to share their own slideshows, home movies, and music,
>>because, as Boing Boing notes, Exetel will automatically delete
>>content that isn't infringing. "Sorry you can't watch the clips of
>>Junior's footy match, mum. My ISP nuked it last night."