According to USA Today, that’s the question the U.S. Supreme Court will consider on December 1. After a jury ordered telecommunications giant Cox Communications to pay $1 billion for damages caused to the music industry in 2019, an appeals court rejected the damages. SCOTUS agreed to hear Cox’s appeal that it should not be held liable for music piracy occurring on its network services. On the other hand, major record companies are arguing that Cox should be held liable for not preventing piracy, even if it did not directly aid in said piracy.
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This case has the potential to cause awkward implications for the future of Internet access as the music industry feels that companies like Cox should shut down Internet access to IP addresses that are automatically flagged for illegally downloaded music. Cox, on the other hand, argues that this is too extreme and could result in homes and businesses unfairly losing access to the network due to the misdeeds of an unknown user. Cox gave the example of a hospital losing Internet access due to music piracy, which seems a bit unlikely, but still illustrates the point succinctly.
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For what it’s worth, as USA TODAY points out, Cox has major organizations like the Justice Department and the ACLU, as well as tech companies like Google. This suggests that Cox has a good chance of coming out on top in any legal proceedings that take place here, but of course, nothing is certain when it comes to the Supreme Court.
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