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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled correctly in an internet privacy case yesterday.
Several big record labels, like Sony, sued Cox, a major internet provider in the northeast. The claim that Cox is aware of users who pirate and share bootleg music files. The record companies sued Cox for not stopping it.
Cox argued that the internet is a utility. That they’re not responsible for what their customers do on-line.
The internet provider lost in the lower courts, and had been ordered to pay $200-million. But the Supreme Court reversed that, and said the record companies may sue individual copyright pirates, but not the internet services they use.
The ruling is correct.
Consider Utah and North Carolina. In those states it’s illegal to interfere with someone’s marriage. Now suppose your wife cheats on you. You could sue her lover. But should you be allowed to sue the phone company if that’s how they arranged their secret rendezvous? Surely the phone company isn’t liable for every call that’s made – even if some are to arrange illegal activities. Can the power company be sued if you use their electricity to operate a meth lab? Of course not.
Besides, holding an internet provider responsible for all activity that happens over its network is impractical. If they have an obligation to shut off people who act illegally online, entire college campuses would lose internet access. Apparently college students are big file-sharers.
This is an important ruling for privacy – what I do online isn’t the business of my internet provider – and for common sense. The Supreme Court’s decision was unanimous.
Chris Conley
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