Internet Pirates and ISPs working together

Dear Reader,

Over the last couple of weeks there has been a big debate about internet piracy. The big Hollywood production companies and the music industry have seen their sales plummet as a direct effect from people downloading products illegally. On the other side there are the internet users and internet service providers (ISP) who directly or indirectly support downloading. Users get a hold of “free” music and the ISP convinces customers to buy a faster internet service as to facilitate downloading.

Sweden is the country in the world which has become synonymous with downloading. The recent ruling in a Swedish court sent the four founders of The Pirate Bay, an internet search engine, to jail for one year and fined them £2.5 million. The news of the verdict spread all over the world and is proclaimed a huge success by Hollywood production companies (to whom the fine was awarded). New York Times writes it was a landmark ruling and cites industry people’s joy over the ruling. The article is not biased, but does end with a quote from The Pirate Bay, saying “But as in all good movies, the heroes lose in the beginning but have an epic victory in the end anyhow”. Il Corriere della Sera, an Italian newspaper, also features the story on the first page. However instead of ending with that quote they end with a quote from Fini, an Italian music industry lobby group, saying the verdict is a success. The same type of coverage is given in British and Swedish newspapers. The most striking about newspapers coverage around the world is not what they put in their articles but that they all acknowledge the massive attention this story gets from ordinary people.

Most people have at least once downloaded illegally. Many continuously download illegally and have therefore bought a fast internet connection to do so. In contrast to the newspapers, people think pages like The Pirate Bay should be allowed to exist. They are not alone. ISPs are another stakeholder who benefits from illegal downloading. They sell faster (and more expensive) internet to customers wishing to download. I am one of them. If downloading would drastically decrease (as has happened in Sweden) ISPs would feel the pain.

The first lawsuit against an ISP in Sweden was filed two weeks ago. The lawsuit is not targeted to fine the ISP, but to make them hand over the identity of IP address user. The company refuses to do so, citing in their press release integrity would be violated if they did. I spoke to a person well connected with this ISP provider, who hinted that the press release was more of a marketing tool than anything else. He also claimed that if the ISP had handed the users identity, they would have lost business.

I think if the productions companies would really want to stamp out illegal downloading they would need to buy the ISPs. It is a farfetched idea, but only then would all business stakeholders work in the same direction.