At What Point Is the Internet No Longer the Internet?
In response to the RIAA's announced intention to crack and sabotage the computers of inidividuals that they suspect of violating music copyrights, Information Wave Technologies, an ISP, has announced that it will block all access to its network from the RIAA to protect its customers' computers. The company has also announced that it has set up a Gnutella client to identify RIAA enforcement bots searching for traders of copyrighted music and will block access to their network from the bots as well. Basically, they're saying that they will deny access to their network to anyone that they believe will do something illegal with that access. Seems sensible.
But before the hosannas echoing across the Internet die down, let me ask a question: How is this different from the RIAA's attempt to force four major ISPs to block access to listen4ever.com (which the RIAA claims is using that Internet access to do something illegal, a claim that I have yet to see disputed)? Well to answer my own question, Information Wave is blocking access from the RIAA of their own volition, whereas the blocking of access to listen4ever.com by the major ISPs would be done at someone else's request (the RIAA's, as it happens). But in both cases, the Internet is made smaller in some sense.
If that trend continues, the Internet will become less useful and, incidentally, less of a threat to businesses that have failed to account for the Internet in their business model. I would hesitate to credit the RIAA with the forethought to have realized that, but events may conspire to get them what they want anyway.
9:00:03 PM 
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