ISP settles with record labels that demanded mass termination of Internet users
ISP settles with record labels that demanded mass termination of Internet users
I have to imagine that a big factor here is that these ISPs are regional fiefdoms of the internet.
If you start terminating all the users who are accused of piracy, then you will effectively cut off a huge chunk of your customer base, which is obviously not good for business. But what is worse is that those customers have no place to go because there is realistically only one or two options for high speed internet in a region. (Ignoring Starlink, etc. for the sake of argument)
So Johnny sails the high seas and gets the household internet account shut down and your working from home and need reliable internet access and you find that the cable company actually has a monopoly in your area and there’s no one else to switch to. How long before people start waking up to that fact and the spotlight is on breaking up these ISPs?
Broken up would be cool. I’d much rather see it nationalized though. The idea of a “free market” for major utilities always seemed like such bullshit to me.
There was a push to regulate the internet as a public utility almost a decade ago: https://theconversation.com/will-the-next-u-s-president-close-the-digital-divide-for-americans-without-broadband-access-55477
Burnie had a huge push for the Internet as a Utility like Power and Water. This was riding on the back of the Net Neutrality rules coming under threat, and websites "blacking out" in protest of the proposed rules change, which would potentially allow ISPs to offer tiered access to the internet, where you would need to pay a premium to access sites like Reddit or YouTube.
I distinctly remember seeing offers from places like T-Mobile that eventually made it, so things like Netflix wouldn't count against your data usage if you had a specific plan. I'm not sure that cellular providers are regulated in the same way that ISPs are, since I don't believe cellular providers are considered "Internet Service Providers".
But I feel like it was even earlier than that. There were the internet blackouts of 2012 against things like SOPA and PIPA. Though, those were less about ISPs and more about weakening protections against websites for the content posted by users on their site.
It would work if not existing under regulatory capture. Competition could force actual innovation. Alas ....