Big Business Partners With Big Business
Yesterday an LA Times story broke the news that the largest internet provider in the country, AT&T, will begin working with the Hollywood entertainment industry to develop a technology for cracking down on copyright piracy that goes through the AT&T ISP network. The story is here - I apologize this site requires registration, but it is free. If you prefer to stay away from registration sites, you can read an article about the article here.
AT&T does not legally have to do this. It is protected under the DMCA ISP safe harbor provisions. But observers note that AT&T is moving into the provision of media to its customers, and it may be beneficial from a business standpoint for AT&T to cozy up to Hollywood.
That said, we could also assume that ATT&T just wants to be a good citizen and help curb illegal activity in all its forms. The problem is that customers right now are extremely concerned about privacy, and unless AT&T can eventually assure folks that no infringement on our usual privacy rights will be made, this move is unlikely to win any applause from the people who actually use AT&T’s services.
And I am not clear from the sketchy information available at this early stage on WHO is actually paying for this gargantuan undertaking? If AT&T is paying, how are they going to justify to their board the huge expenditure of funds to do something they have no legal obligation to do and which their customers would probably rather they not do?
Verizon, a rival but much smaller ISP company, has positioned itself as a fierce protector of the privacy rights of its customers - if they can get the capital, now looks like a good time for them to step up and move into the ATT&T dominated markets.
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