The Supreme Court Will Decide If Sony Can Turn Off Your Internet if You Pirate Their Content In Billion Dollar

[Kaz]

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The Supreme Court Will Decide If Sony Can Turn Off Your Internet if You Pirate Their Content In Billion Dollar Lawsuit

Today on December 1, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a closely watched copyright dispute that pits the music industry against one of the nation’s largest internet providers in a case that could reshape online liability for decades to come.

At the heart of the litigation is whether Cox Communications, the country’s biggest privately held broadband company, can be held financially responsible for the illegal copying and distribution of thousands of copyrighted songs by its customers. Major record labels and music publishers, including Sony Music Entertainment and more than fifty other companies, accuse Cox of willfully turning a blind eye to rampant piracy on its network, behavior they say has cost the industry billions of dollars annually.

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The company [Cox] warns that the Fourth Circuit’s standard would transform broadband providers into de facto enforcers required to disconnect entire households, businesses, hospitals, military bases, and hotels whenever an automated infringement notice arrives – often based only on an IP address and unverified allegations from third-party monitoring firms. Such a rule, Cox argues, threatens universal internet access and invites abuse of the notice system by overzealous copyright holders that could force them to cut off internet service to cutstomers based soley on a complaint by companies like Sony.

 

The Supreme Court Will Decide If Sony Can Turn Off Your Internet if You Pirate Their Content In Billion Dollar Lawsuit | Cord Cutters News

CORDCUTTERSNEWS.COM

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Today on December 1, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a closely watched copyright dispute that...

 

The article is fairly short.  I think it's worth reading.  I could have copied a few more paragraphs, but decided I shouldn't copy the entire article.

 

In todays information age, the internet is pretty much required.  Gone are the phone books of old.  Sony's attempt to take that away over copyright violations means I won't be purchasing anything Sony makes in the foreseeable future.

 

Sony tried to sue individual users, but that wasn't profitable.  Now they are suing companies with deeper pockets.

[pio]

If this turns out to be true, I might have a lawsuit against Disney!  

Long story short - apparently SOMEBODY on my home network was torrenting some stupid Disney TV show.  Spectrum shut off our internet service due to it.  Still don't know who it was, or if it was even true since nobody in my house even watches that stupid show (I think it was Mandalorian).

But yeah, Spectrum had cut me off from internet services for 6 months for that.  And they were the ONLY broadband company here (still is).  I can get CenturyLink DSL with 1.5 Mbps down / 256k up.

[Kaz]

Spectrum wasn't 'forced' to do it, they just decided to be supportive of Disney  They lost 6 months of revenue for it.  I wonder how much Disney paid them, or if the payment was avoiding the legal fees that Cox is paying.

 

6 months of 1.5 mbps seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

 

Google has weighed in with support for Cox.  It's almost like Google is also an ISP...  Seems like Youtube would be a bigger target that torrenting users.

On 01/12/2025 at 21:56, pio said:

Long story short - apparently SOMEBODY on my home network was torrenting some stupid Disney TV show.  Spectrum shut off our internet service due to it.  Still don't know who it was, or if it was even true since nobody in my house even watches that stupid show (I think it was Mandalorian).

 

If that "Somebody" wasn't you, you should use a longer wifi password.  Cracking passwords is suprisingly simple if they aren't very long.

[schuck6566]

On 01/12/2025 at 22:56, pio said:

If this turns out to be true, I might have a lawsuit against Disney!  

Long story short - apparently SOMEBODY on my home network was torrenting some stupid Disney TV show.  Spectrum shut off our internet service due to it.  Still don't know who it was, or if it was even true since nobody in my house even watches that stupid show (I think it was Mandalorian).

But yeah, Spectrum had cut me off from internet services for 6 months for that.  And they were the ONLY broadband company here (still is).  I can get CenturyLink DSL with 1.5 Mbps down / 256k up.

Been there, done that with SuddenLink before Altice bought them. Woke to the notice that my internet was blocked and to contact them to contest it. Like you,it was for torrenting some cartoon. Like I told them at the time, I'm almost 50.If I'm gonna torrent anything, it'll be porn. They told me to change my password to a more secure one and turned it back on with a warning.