Digital piracy: Responsibility issues of Internet service providers

Abstract

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are vitally attending our information society since they are assessed as a gatekeeper to the Internet. In other words, they are a crucial technological tool that provides access to the Internet. The main function of ISP is to transmit content or material through its service, but this sort of function has recently been in a difficult situation due to some legal issues. Not only the public but also copyright holders have initiated to require ISPs to monitor the content which transported to the Internet for a reason when some users are infringing copyrighted material on ISP’s sites. Thus, it leads to a legal question of whether ISPs are liable for Internet piracy taking place on their websites. The purpose of this article is to examine the liability of ISPs for digital piracy by their users. The novelty of this paper is to offer some recommendations to enhance the safe harbor provisions of ISP by comparing jurisdictions of some countries such as the US, the EU, and China. To answer the abovementioned question, the author will mainly rely on comparative-legal, formal legal, and historical methods. The outcome of this paper suggests that to avoid copyright responsibility, ISPs must not promote the infringing actions of Internet users on their platforms. Moreover, the Chinese service providers should carefully monitor content which shared or posted by subscribers on the Internet.