Dutch ISPs to cooperate in file sharing crackdown

Dutch ISPs to cooperate in file sharing crackdown
Several Dutch ISPs have agreed to cooperate in a crackdown on illegal filesharing in the country. They said they will send written warnings to any customer suspected of trading copyrighted material online illegally. They will forward letters from the Brain Institute, which represents the entertainment industry in the Netherlands, letting the customer know that what he/she is doing is illegal and the possible consequences of such activity.

However, the ISPs did refuse to hand any names of personal information of the customers over to Brain. "This is a service, a warning to clients that they are doing things that are against the law," said Maaike Scholten, spokeswoman for providers HetNet and Planet Internet. They see this as an opportunity to dampen illegal sharing so their customers don't end up getting sued.



The Dutch Supreme Court ruled in December 2003 that programs used to swap files was legal but of course did not rule out any action that could be taken against those who use the programs to trade files illegally. In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America has sued thousands of file-sharers for illegally sharing their copyrighted music. The same thing could eventually happen in the Netherlands if the Brain Institute decided to go after the sharers.

Director Tim Kuik said it will use the letters to demand that downloaders pay for songs and other material they have downloaded in the past. "We'll see what happens to them if they don't pay," Kuik said. He expects the institute to eventually sue some of the sharers. One major ISP, XS4ALL, is not cooperating with the institute. "They never even asked us," said spokeswoman Judith van Erven. "I guess they know where we stand.". The company has said "Access for All, not an enforcement arm of the entertainment industry.". It's good to see that the entertainment industry can be challenged on their quest to control technology.

Source:
Yahoo


Written by: James Delahunty @ 15 Mar 2005 0:33
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  • 6 comments
  • joe777

    Well it has finally come to holand ooohhhhh. I always told friends that all this nonsense was "only in the states" and now it is coming home to roost.But heres something for you.In the nederlands the main telephone company is named KPN Telecom and they are offering direct adsl.Now I don't know alot about it, but kpn did say that your internet connection is without an ISP. So you must connect to the net yourself and then how would these rats of society gain information about your file-sharing habbits. I have a small screen-shot from the kpn website but I'm not sure how to put it here. And one last thing I am dying to know, how does BRAIN ( or really got no brain ) know what I have actually downloaded or up loaded. Do they spy on the web-traffic of that particular p2p or do they spy on the pc you are useing by way of searching for a file and recording the ip of the uploader, and then how can they tell how much you have down/upld of that particular file. And maybe they are looking only at terabyte usage, who knows but if I ever receive a letter then I will surely post it here.

    15.3.2005 15:00 #1

  • TTachion

    KPN would not be an alternative - you'd need at least a phone line - that's Euro 19/month plus at least the basic subscription - that's another 22/month - and then you'd have 1.5Gbyte/month data limit with a low bandwidth.

    Furthermore the Dutch government requires ALL providers (even if they say they are not one lol) to log data traffic.

    Dutch law states clearly that downloading is LEGAL - we pay about 40-50% over the retail price extra taxes for empty media for that over here that go to the industry. It's the uploading this is about. And with most p2p software you upload while you download. KaZaa-Lite e.g. has a possibility to not upload and when using that you are completely legal and Brain-dead can't touch you.

    But then who likes leechers :(

    And as for what the ISP's "promised" Brain-dead - they said they would warn users - they can't provide them with name & address of customers - that would be a breach of contract. A judge could decide to issue an order for them to do so however, and then they'd have no choise but to comply. It would be up to Brain-dead however to prove you uploaded a complete song/application/movie and they would have to represent whoever had the legal copyright to that item.

    As for warnings - I already had one (MPAA complained to my ISP who in turn warned me - this was about a film I didn't even download and didn't watch till this day.

    Talk about morons... Time to hack Brain-dead to death - they loose 99% of their cases anyway.

    15.3.2005 16:03 #2

  • joe777

    the deal from kpn is as follows:
    Netwerk- KPN
    Abonnement- Direct ADSL Basic
    snelheid- 3200/768 (kbps)
    Datalimiet- 20000 MB
    Min Contractduur- 12 mnd
    Set-up- free
    connection- free
    wireless 54mb modem- free
    cost per mnd- 49.95 euros

    Now kpn insist that there is no ISP, so how does that work.
    As for dutch law I think you will find that downloading is of course legal in every country in the world, the legal issue is what exactly you are downloading. Now my ISP is Planet Internet.nl and they offer me free music streaming every month. This service normally costs 7.95 euros pmnd and you receive 100 credits pmnd.Now you can listen to a song for 1 credit or you can download a song for ten credits. So you could basically download ten songs pmnd or if the album has ten tracks you could download an album pmnd. Planet states that you can do whatever you want with the songs, leave on the hdd or put on an mp3 or put on cd there is no protection.But of course you have to pay so there is the legal issue out the window now.

    16.3.2005 06:55 #3

  • blco32

    Why doesn't the RIAA leave people alone. If someone wants to share files then they should have the right to. The artists and their companies are being rediculous. We should be able to do what we want. It's the same thing with seat belts. If I want to wear one or not it's should be my choice not what some idiot thinks is better for me. The hell with them all.

    17.3.2005 11:37 #4

  • Dogue999

    No way cannot beleive it....I think Planet.nl are so weak to give into these money grabbin Tos***rs.....I for one am going to cancel my Planet account and open another with a company that respects my right to download what the ***k I want......."free world".......HaHa..;-)

    www.xs4all.nl - get my vote, and money!! ;-)
    www.demonoid.com

    17.3.2005 14:14 #5

  • Dogue999

    ARHHHHHHHHH.....now I find after trying to cancel my account, that Planet won't let you cancel until your contract finishes....mine got 10months left....Bas***rds.......

    18.3.2005 06:22 #6

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