Music publishing companies notched another court victory against a broadband provider that refused to terminate the accounts of Internet users accused of piracy. In a ruling on Wednesday, the conservative-leaning US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with the big three record labels against Grande Communications, a subsidiary of Astound Broadband.
The appeals court ordered a new trial on damages because it said the $46.8 million award was too high, but affirmed the lower court’s finding that Grande is liable for contributory copyright infringement.
Someone will still have to install and maintain the wireless access points, physically link them to the local network trunk and negotiate for service with the backbone provider… which would just be an ISP, who would sell you access to the WiFi system like a cellular provider.
This isn’t a problem that can be solved with technology. Monopolies have to be fixed with government oversight.