Slowing Down the Internet Won’t Stop Music Piracy
How do you protect creators and also avoid hurting subscribers who follow the rules?
Photographer: Richard A. Brooks/AFP via Getty Images
There was a moment during the oral arguments of a copyright case before the US Supreme Court this week that ought to give pause to everyone who uses the internet — that is, pretty much everyone. No, I don’t believe any horror is coming, whichever way the justices rule. But now and then one finds buried in a complex lawsuit an issue to which we should all pay attention.
The case that generated this particular sit-up-and-think moment is Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, the latest go-round on the much-litigated issue of the liability of internet service providers for piracy by their users. The plaintiffs complained that defendant Cox had not done enough to prevent illegal downloads of copyrighted materials; a jury agreed and awarded the plaintiffs $1 billion in damages.