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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 20 2018, @08:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-more-working-from-home dept.

An increasing number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the world have been blocking more and more access based on accusations of copyright infringement. Those demanding the blocking assert that high standards are followed when making the decision. However, those studying the situation are finding otherwise. Given the scope creep demonstrated by these activities there is legitimate concern for the future availability of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) on those providers.

TorrentFreak covers analysis from University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist on the topic via his personal blog:

A group of prominent Canadian ISPs and movie industry companies are determined to bring pirate site blocking efforts to North America. This plan has triggered a fair amount of opposition, including cautioning analyses from law professor Michael Geist, who warns of potential overblocking and fears that VPN services could become the next target.

Michael Geist's personal blog jumps right in with a discussion of likely expansions to the scope of blocking and other sources of blocking over-reach.

The Bell coalition website blocking proposal downplays concerns about over-blocking that often accompanies site blocking regimes by arguing that it will be limited to "websites and services that are blatantly, overwhelmingly, or structurally engaged in piracy." Having discussed piracy issues in Canada and how the absence of a court order makes the proposal an outlier with virtually every country that has permitted site blocking, the case against the website blocking plan now turns to the inevitability of over-blocking that comes from expanding the block list or from the technical realities of mandating site blocking across hundreds of ISPs for millions of subscribers. This post focuses on the likely expansion of the scope of piracy for the purposes of blocking and the forthcoming posts will discuss other sources of blocking over-reach.

Once a technology or practice is in place, it is usually extended and abused beyond its original purpose. Even in the short history of the World Wide Web as well as the Internet, scope creep has shown itself to be a real problem.

Sources :
Canadian Pirate Site Blocks Could Spread to VPNs, Professor Warns
The Case Against the Bell Coalition's Website Blocking Plan, Part 5: The Inevitable Expansion of the Block List Standard for "Piracy" Sites


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Tuesday February 20 2018, @08:52PM (2 children)

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday February 20 2018, @08:52PM (#640837) Journal

    The ISP should charge you per gigabyte.

    That discussion is orthogonal to the discussion at hand. An economic case can be made for per-gig charging, truly unlimited charging, or grading-on-the-curve charging. It has nothing to do with blocking destinations.

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  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday February 20 2018, @09:47PM (1 child)

    by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday February 20 2018, @09:47PM (#640869) Journal

    I pay for unlimited (with Bell): if they start blocking my vpn use, i'll be dropping that and going elsewhere. If THEY block it, i will be shopping around or going back into my cave.

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    • (Score: 2) by dry on Thursday February 22 2018, @04:49AM

      by dry (223) on Thursday February 22 2018, @04:49AM (#641629) Journal

      I pay for 250 GBs with Telus, who have already been caught blocking a union site during a strike, along with a few hundred other sites that shared the same server. Unluckily I don't really have any other choice where I live.