As I have been posting in other entries, thousands of people have been joined into lawsuits as “John Does” and have been receiving letters from Comcast or other Interent Service Providers accusing them of illegal downloading. However, one plaintiff film company, Liberty Media, has gone a step beyond the standard copyright infringement claim by throwing in a claim for negligence against the Internet consumer for failing to police the use of others on their wi-fi network.
As far as I know, this outlandish argument has not been raised anywhere in Florida. However, Mike Masnick at TechDirt (whose blog tipped me off to this lawsuit) has kindly posted an amicus curiae brief filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against Liberty Media in the Southern District of New York. The EFF argues that Internet consumers have no legal duty to police the use of an Internet connection.
The premise of negligence for having an open router or for failing to monitor or prolice users’ activity is ridiculous. Open wi-fi is becoming one of the most sought-after services offered by businesses. Cafes, restaurants, hotels, automotive repair places, and many other businesses reply on their open wi-fi, or at least giving out passwords freely, to attract customers. Although many individuals will probably be forced to password-protect their routers at home as a result of copyright troll lawsuits, I certainly hope that businesses do not follow suit. Businesses, we, consumers, love it when you offer open wi-fi; please continue to do so. Let’s hope on this one that the Court rules against Liberty Media with an iron fist, and quickly.
Leave a Reply