Once again, the music industry is rattling ISP cages in court. Cox Communications has been ordered to pay a $1 billion fine to music labels. ISPs could become “copyright enforcers” in order to avoid liability. Users might have their accounts terminated simply for receiving an alleged copyright infringement complaint, regardless of guilt.
People often wrongly receive complaints. It is estimated that 30 percent of alleged offenders were not actually responsible, such as smaller artists getting notices about their own work, or someone leaving their network unprotected. With many rural areas only having a single provider and with Internet becoming a utility for work, school, and research, this raises many concerns about basic internet access.
