It seems folks worried about talk of UK ISP packet snooping have little to fear.
http://www.slyck.com/story1662_UK_ISPs_Balk_at_Unplugging_P2P_PiratesYesterday, the UK Times Online reported that the British government would consider enacting a law requiring ISPs to "disconnect" habitual P2P pirates. The entertainment industry wants a "three strikes" policy, where the end user would be permanently disconnected from his or her ISP after the third warning. Reaction has so far been ho-hum, as the file-sharing community sees this as just yet another attempt bound for failure.
The reaction from the UK ISPs has followed along a similar line as well. The ISPA (Internet Service Provider Association), a trade group which represents the interests of UK ISPs, released a statement which balks at the idea of filtering or blocking alleged P2P pirates. Much like their American counterparts, UK ISPs are immune from any civil and or criminal impropriety that may transpire across their networks.
The ISPA stress that the Electronic Commerce Regulation of 2002 protects their members from such contentious issues like copyright infringement. As a "mere conduit" of information, UK ISPs cannot be held liable to enforce intellectual property rights.
"Where an information society service is provided which consists of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service or the provision of access to a communication network, the service provider (if he otherwise would) shall not be liable for damages or for any other pecuniary remedy or for any criminal sanction as a result of that transmission where the service provider -
(a) did not initiate the transmission;
(b) did not select the receiver of the transmission; and
(c) did not select or modify the information contained in the transmission."
I for one dont intend to second guess the ISP companies understanding of the law, it does after all act in our favour in protecting our privacy.
