British ISP ceases to directly cut off pirates

The measure so dearly desired by content providers, to cut alleged pirates off from the Internet, is in general not very popular with courts and governments. It is judged too hard a punishment to deny access to an infrastructure that plays a vital part in a lively democracy.

ISPs, as a rule, are not overly enthusiastic either to force a certain behaviour on their clients. They fear it will cost them subscribers. In the English city of Hull there was an ISP, Karoo, that, terminated the connection of clients accused of piracy, until recently. To regain access, one had to sign a document promising not to repeat the offence.

Karoo could do this as it had a local monopoly as an ISP. Dissatisfied customers had no alternative. A BBC broadcast about this practice led to protests. Karoo subsequently announced a change in policy and now first sends three warnings before termination. Karoo spokesman Nick Thompson: ”It is evident that we have been exceeding the expectations of copyright owners, the media and Internet users. So, we have changed our policy to move more in line with the industry standard approach.”