2010-04-27

ISPs did not cause this

The rights holders seem to think that all of their problems with file sharers and the like are caused by the ISPs. Apart from all of the arguments about them needing new business models for changes in technology, etc, this point is worth addressing.

I have before mentioned that a file sharer has the "support" of the power company, the operating system maker, the chip makers, the mother board makers, the memory makers, the PC makes, and even the people that provide a nice house for them to work in with light and heat. Without these things they would not be file sharing. ISPs are just one part of that and we provide as much a valuable and useful service for lawful use as anyone else.

However, today, we came up with a good analogy.

Wheel clamping!!!

People will park cars on private property when they should not. It is a civil matter (trespass) and is a real headache for people with private property to sort out. They engage clamping companies to help, but that has issues. They can't sensibly take the normal legal route via the county courts. It is costly or time consuming to get details of registered keepers to take action. They have intangible damages in most cases - i.e. no actually losses. Of course they can't prove who was driving and it might not be the keeper of the car that was. Its a real problem for land owners.

It is very close to the file sharing issue. But nobody seems to be blaming the car manufacturers that caused this problem. Without the cars this would not happen. Yeh, sure, there were horses and carts before, but like the fact there was cassette tape and video tape before, it was not quite the same scale of problem.

Why are there not laws that require car manufacturers to handle tresspass notices? And to make technical measures to stop people driving a car at all because some times they park where they should not. And measures requiring owners of cars to prove they took steps to stop other drivers parking where they should not?

What is with the media indsustry that makes them special?

Of course this is not quite right - the car manufacturer is like the PC manufacturer, and the petrol company is like the power company. Its the highways agency and council providing the network of roads that are clearly to blame for this.

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