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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jan 23rd 2006 12:17pm





Attacking ISPs As A Proxy In Your Legal Fight... Part II

from the seems-popular dept

We just posted a story about the recording industry turning its legal guns towards ISPs, and it seems like that's an increasingly popular tactic of anyone who doesn't like something that's online. Rather than going after those actually responsible, scare the ISP into taking people offline. That appears to be what happened to a site in the UK that was trying to post anti-scam info. It seems that one of the companies the site discussed didn't like being on the site and, rather than going after the guy directly, convinced his web hosting firm to pull the plug. In this case, the guy who runs the site says he has no problem defending the content in court, where he believes he'll be vindicated, but he can't even get the content online thanks to the legal nastygrams. While this case is in the UK, US ISPs are supposed to be protected against such things by the DMCA -- but there is still a system for doing takedown notices which are almost as effective in many cases.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Thats horrible

    identicon
    John, Jan 23rd, 2006 @ 1:09pm

    It's wrong, what if they get cut off for something they didn't actualy do?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Common enough in the US...

    identicon
    Xanthir, Jan 23rd, 2006 @ 2:13pm

    This sort of thing happens all the time in the US as well. Some lawyer sends off a threatening letter to the ISP, the ISP drops the site just to avoid any trouble.

    I think it's illegal, but it's also effective. Most ISPs will cave immediately.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    Does anyone remember the good old days?

    identicon
    Graphicsguy, Jan 23rd, 2006 @ 2:25pm

    Ya know where we actually had freedom of speech, and the government didn't know EVERYTHING I was searching for. Thank god we finally got a president in office that took all those pesky rights and freedoms away from us.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Hutch, Jan 23rd, 2006 @ 3:02pm

    Piffle. This is the same as a business saying, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." Now, there are indeed limits to that right, but the only remedy is through the courts.

    Example: You're staying at a hotel for a week. After the first night, the manager refunds your money and kicks you out. You might have some legal recourse, but if you don't leave, then the hotel can have you arrested for trespass ... even if you did nothing at all wrong.

    This has ALWAYS been the case (at least here in the States).

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    Re: Does anyone remember the good old days?

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 23rd, 2006 @ 3:12pm

    lol @ graphicsguy

    btw, remember michael abrash?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    He can get it on-line...

    identicon
    Andrew Strasser, Jan 23rd, 2006 @ 8:46pm

    Post it on a South Korean Server and they'll never take it down... hehe

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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