According to the IFPI's "Digital Music Report 2007", your residential ISP is the their next front in the war on piracy. The report spells out in pretty stark language exactly what the IFPI expects from the ISP who's services you pay for, "We should not be doing this job alone. With cooperation from ISPs we could make huge strides in tackling internet piracy globally. It is very unfortunate that it seems to need pressure from governments or even action in the courts to achieve this, but as an industry we are determined to see this campaign through to the end." (emphasis added)
It's unclear exactly what the IFPI wants ISPs to do but, it is pretty clear that they want it done now. With Bittorrent carrying more and more legal content every day, blocking a specific protocol or port is a non-starter. The next logical request would be that ISPs take up the business of data monitoring, inspecting what traverses their network and playing Big Brother by informing the IFPI, RIAA or law enforcement of what you're downloading at any given time.
Will 2007 be the year of the ISP nanny-state?
1. ISPs and consumers will soon have nothing to worry about. People are now using free, ENCRYPTED solutions that let users share large files with each other in a secure, PRIVATE environment. An example of a popular new application is http://www.gigatribe.com
As soon as people make the inevitable switch to such new solutions, these lawsuits and the snooping will CEASE!!!
Posted at 11:18AM on Jan 30th 2007 by John Carricaburu