"Memo of understanding" between RIAA, MPAA, & which ISP's?

[ http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2011/07/memo-of-understanding-between-riaa-mpaa.html ]

July 7, 2011

I haven't had time to analyze it yet (it's 36 pages [ http://beckermanlegal.com/pdf/?file=/Lawyer_Copyright_Internet_Law/RIAA_MPAA_ISP_Deal.pdf ]), but at first glance it made me kind of ill, in that it appeared to...

-violate the antitrust laws of the federal government and of various states,
-constitute abuse of copyright,
-expand the lawful copyright monopoly into an unlawful monopoly,
-overlook the First Amendment,
-overlook the fair use defense and other defenses afforded by copyright law,
-conflict with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
-be against public policy, and
-contradict net neutrality.

What I'm wondering about is which, if any, ISP's have signed off on this, because I'd want to do my utmost to avoid doing business with them. The document I've seen is unsigned but lists some ISP's. If your ISP is on that list, and does sign, I recommend switching ISP's asap.

What ever happened to "free enterprise"?

[PJ: Here's the list of "Participating ISPs", from the document's Attachment A, dated 7/6/2011: The Participating ISPs are the following: SBC Internet Services, Inc., BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, Pacific Bell Telephone Company, Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Indiana Bell Telephone Company, Incorporated, Michigan Bell Telephone Company, Nevada Bell Telephone Company, The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, Wisconsin Bell, Inc., The Southern New England Telephone Company, and BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. (the AT&T Inc. companies); Verizon Online LLC, Verizon Online LLC – Maryland, and Verizon Online Pennsylvania Partnership (the Verizon companies); Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC; CSC Holdings, LLC (solely with respect to its cable systems operating in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) (the Cablevision systems); and Time Warner Cable Inc.] - Ray Beckerman, Recording Industry v. The People