GFW BLOG（功夫网与翻墙）

Canada, Copyright & Filtering

2008-01-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

作者：Nart Villeneuve 来源：www.nartv.org

The Globe and Mail has picked up the story but suggests that filtering for copyright reasons is unlikely:

“Canadian ISPs have been defiant,” said Mark Tauschek, a senior networks and telecom research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. “They have refused to co-operate. They have said the Internet is an open network and they aren’t going to police the content that goes across it … unless there is criminality involved, they won’t cough up information or necessarily block content.”

What’s interesting here is “unless there is criminality involved.” See, the major ISP’s already filter URLs that contain images of child abuse and may soon be expanding into other issue areas. The filtering technology is in place, it can be extended further. The issue here is that ISP’s don’t want to be in a position of judging content, they don’t want to rule on whether something is criminal or not, but should that responsibility be delegated to some legitimate authority they don’t seem to have any problem with filtering. It seems that filtering for reasons of copyright is not likely to be happening anytime soon. Still, it is an issue worth paying close attention to, as mission creep generally follows the implementation of filtering. It is also worth following closely due to the fact that other countries, particularly the U.S. and Europe are also moving in the direction of filtering for copyright reasons.

Using a technique similar to that of the GFW of China, Comcast is interfering with bittorrent and other traffic. Other ISP’s in the U.S. are also considering implementing filtering. An ISP in Denmark, TDC, blocked allofmp3.com to comply with a legal ruling. There have been proposals to implement filtering for copyright reasons in Belgium, Norway, France and other European countries. While the EFF reports that proposed Amendments put before the EU’s Committee on Culture and Education, which included ISP filtering, have been withdrawn or voted down they caution that there may still be attempts to introduce such language before the actual Parliamentary vote.

Will 2008 become the “Year of the Filters“?

Canadian ISPs won't block content: expert

2008-01-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

作者：Matt Hartley 来源：Globe and Mail

Trying to convince the public that downloading a song is akin to stealing a chocolate bar hasn't helped the music industry curb piracy. Now it wants Internet service providers to act as content gatekeepers and to start unplugging customers suspected of swapping copyrighted music files.

According to a report released Thursday by the UK-based IFPI Group, overall revenue for the industry fell by as much as 10 per cent in 2007 despite a 40-per-cent increase in global digital music sales. The news prompted the group's chairman John Kennedy to urge ISPs to assume responsibility for the traffic on their networks.

"ISP responsibility is becoming an accepted idea," he said. "2007 was the year ISP responsibility started to become an accepted principle. 2008 must be the year it becomes a reality."

Although some Canadian ISPs such as Bell Canada and Rogers Communications Inc. "shape" traffic travelling on their networks by various means — such as limiting the amount of bandwidth allotted for peer-to-peer transfers — they have stopped short of blocking traffic for those users suspected of sharing copyrighted material.

While providers in the United States such as Comcast Corp. and ISPs in other countries have begun to test the waters of content blocking, Canadian ISPs are unlikely to follow suit, analysts say. Even the Canadian wing of the recording industry isn't seeking such measures from the government's forthcoming copyright legislation.

"Canadian ISPs have been defiant," said Mark Tauschek, a senior networks and telecom research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. "They have refused to co-operate. They have said the Internet is an open network and they aren't going to police the content that goes across it ... unless there is criminality involved, they won't cough up information or necessarily block content."

PUBLIC BACKLASH

Whenever the subject of Canadian ISPs interfering with Internet traffic surfaces, they tend to incur a public backlash from consumers and proponents of Net Neutrality, which states that all content must be treated equally online. Carriers are concerned they will lose customers if they bow to pressure from industry groups such as IFPI and the U.S.-based RIAA, Mr. Tauschek said.

"There's a big public outcry every time they try and eliminate Net Neutrality," he said. "Every time the ISPs try and manage what comes across the network, people find out and the freak out.

But the possibility still exists that as long as it didn't cost them customers — and helped ease the use of bandwidth on their networks — ISPs would be open to some form of content blocking, he said.

"There would almost have to be a little bit of collusion between the companies to do it all at the same time," he said. "Otherwise you would see migration from one to the other."

CANADIAN CENSORSHIP?

However, there is mounting concern in some circles that not only are Canadian ISPs warming to the idea of content blocking, but that the Canadian government could bow to international pressure to mandate they do so, according to University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist.

"When you see these kinds of comments about requiring ISPs to take responsibility for the kind of content on the networks, that's really code for widespread blocking and indeed censorship," he said. "That approach sounds much more at home in China than it does in Canada."

Technically is it still not possible for ISPs to set up roadblocks to catch pirated content without infringing on fair use and legal material, he said, which would make any law requiring ISPs to block such content of "dubious constitutionality."

"It runs so counter to our basic notions of freedom of speech and freedom of access to information," he said.

In a statement to the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Recording Industry Association said it wants to see copyright reform legislation that "puts us in step with the WIPO treaties we signed with our major trading partners all over the world." However, the group is not seeking provisions "related to content filtering or termination of repeat offenders" in the government's upcoming copyright legislation announcement.

Other international jurisdictions have taken a much different approach than Canada. French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently floated a plan to have the country's ISPs block Web access for users swapping copyrighted music and movies. In the U.S., Comcast is under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission and is accused of violating federal regulations regarding reasonable network management and AT&T is considering examining the traffic on its networks to stop illegal file sharing.

河北关闭50家非法网站

2007-11-18T02:35:00.000-08:00

作者：王丽来源：新华网转自：新浪网

新华网石家庄11月17日电(王丽)河北省各级版权管理部门近期共查办各类网络侵权盗版案件73件，涉及各类网站73家。其中处罚22家，关闭从事侵权盗版的“三无”网站50家。

　　河北省查办的73件案件中，有5件是根据国家版权局下发的线索查办

　　的。这5家网站分别是“中天在线”“中天论坛”“不三不四”“666QQQ”“猫谷网”。这5家网站因严重侵犯他人的音乐、电影、图书、软件等的著作权而遭受处罚。

　　河北省将继续打击网络盗版，重点查处通过互联网非法传播电影、音乐、软件、图书等作品的侵权行为，加大对“私服”“外挂”的打击力度。同时，对在当地有一定影响力的知名大型网站也将加强日常监管。