jmke

Going after ISPs is only the next logical step. IFPI Denmark sued Tele2 in Copenhagen City Court back in July, asking a judge to force the ISP to cut off access to AllofMP3.com. Yesterday, the judge agreed to do so. John Kennedy, head of IFPI, said: "This judgment is one more step along the road to getting this rogue site closed down. Allofmp3.com illegally offers for sale copies of music that it has no right to reproduce or distribute. It provides unfair competition to the nearly 400 legal sites worldwide that respect the rights of composers, artists and record producers."

By making ISPs responsible for controlling their users' access to illicit material, the court has cracked open a massive can of nightcrawlers. The worries here are obvious: how can each ISP be expected to monitor websites around the globe and make legal judgments about whether such sites are legitimate under local and Danish law? In the US and Europe, courts have generally recognized that users—not service providers—are responsible for abiding by the law while using the Internet. This ruling calls that basic principle into question.

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