Warner Movies Threatens To Withhold Movies Unless ISPs Give Up Users' Privacy
from the call-the-bluff dept
There they go again. Whenever the entertainment is feeling really challenged on the issue of file sharing, they like to pull out the claim that they’ll never release any content any more. Usually, the “deal” they offer is that they want copy protection in exchange for content (still under the mistaken belief that copy protection stops “copying” rather than just pissing people off and making them go look for content elsewhere). However, it appears that Warner Home Entertainment is trying out a different sort of trade. They’re telling ISPs that they won’t release movies online unless the ISPs promise to give them the names of subscribers. That is, they don’t want to have to go through the hassle of having to file lawsuits and issue subpoenas to associate an IP address with a human — so they want the ISPs to just cough them up on request. Of course, that would be a huge violation of subscriber privacy — but, the entertainment industry isn’t particularly concerned about things like that. Once again, it’s time to call the industry’s bluff. They say they won’t put content on the internet? Say fine. The internet has been doing just fine without them. The entertainment industry needs the internet a lot more than it needs them.
