After Critical UN Report, Recording Industry Backs Down on Disconnecting Pirates

For a long time, copyright backers argued that tougher legislation was needed to deter pirates from grabbing the latest Lady Gaga album or the latest Hollywood flick from their preferred BitTorrent sites. One very popular measure proposed is kicking people off the internet to serve as reminder of just how bad copyright infringement is.

A lot of people criticized the idea and for good reason, the punishment definitely does not fit the crime and having people cut off from the internet by force, for any reason, greatly impedes their liberties and potential as a person.

Finally, even the United Nations stepped in and labeled any law that terminates a person's internet connection as a punishment as breaching human rights.

"The Special Rapporteur considers cutting off users from Internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," the author of the UN report writes.

The report provides the so-called "three-strikes" law in France and the Digital Economy Act in the UK as examples of legislation that goes against the UN recommendations. The report concludes that any such laws should be amended or repelled and that any new laws being proposed which consider terminating internet access should not be passed.

Of course, considering that the entertainment industry has had a deaf ear for criticism in the past, at the time, it didn't seem likely that the report would change anything, even if it's coming from the UN.

But, surprisingly enough, it seems that copyright supporters are finally listening. Following the UN report, one industry group, the Australian Music Industry Piracy Investigations, has had a change of heart and has said that it no longer supports the idea of cutting 'pirates' off from the internet.

While it still wants tougher legislation, it now believes that the termination of internet connections is not the best way to get people to respect copyright. The group also spoke for ACIG which is made up of book publishers, computer software and video game makers as well as MIPI itself.

Granted, it's only a small first move, but it may be a sign of things to come. Don't expect the MPAA or RIAA to make similar statements any time soon, though, perhaps there really is a change of attitude in the industry.