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The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a major copyright dispute that internet service providers warn could force millions of Americans offline and turn companies that provide connectivity into “internet police.”
At issue are peer-to-peer file-sharing protocols like BitTorrent that allow users to download pirated music. The nation’s largest record labels are attempting to hold internet providers liable for copyright infringement because they declined to cut off online access to users they knew were downloading bootlegged music.
Cox Communications, an ISP that is fighting that effort at the Supreme Court, warned the justices that making providers liable for the online conduct of customers would lead to a crackdown that would “yield mass evictions from the internet,” terminating connections at “homes, barracks, hospitals, and hotels, upon bare accusation” of copyright infringement by creators.
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