WA Internet Association slams MediaForce letter - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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WA Internet Association slams MediaForce letter

By James Pearce, ZDNet Australia
January 16, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/WA-Internet-Association-slams-MediaForce-letter/0,130061791,120271306,00.htm

The Western Australian Internet Association has criticised an organisation claiming to represent Warner Bros for sending letters to Australian ISPs asking them to terminate the accounts of users alleged to have breached copyright requirements.

The WAIA claimed the organisation, MediaForce, may have broken local privacy laws.

The president of WAIA, Kimberley Heitman, said in a statement the infringement may have occurred when MediaForce sent Australian ISPs the IP addresses it thought had infringed the copyright of Time Warner, and requested the accounts corresponding to those addresses be terminated.

Heitman pointed out providing Internet access is a service, and that ISPs are no more responsible for what is transmitted over the Internet that the company that provides the phone line. According to Heitman, the Digital Agenda amendments to the Copyright Act in 2001 meant an ISP could no longer be held liable simply because someone used its network to infringe copyright, but beyond that the legal position of ISPs is still unclear.

The problem, according to the WAIA, is that there is no industry code for this matter, and it has begun drafting a code to be submitted to the relevant authorities for consideration. It has invited input from all interested parties.