A while back GEEK! reported about Karoo – the only ISP in Hull (UK) that screwed up on its internet policy.

Well it would appear that Karoo has changed its internet policy yet again. Now they are saying that a full court order will be required before the suggestion of a service cut-off can take place.

This statement was issued by Karoo to TorrentFreak: “We will no longer suspend a customer’s service unless we receive a court order from a copyright owner taking legal action. As a result it is the responsibility of the legal system, not Karoo, to ensure the accuracy of the information provided by the copyright owners.”

This changes the rules a lot. What they are saying is that Karoo will not cut off their users for illegal downloads by themselves. They will wait until a copyright owner files a case in court, and (supposedly) if the court order affects someone from their user base then they will cut that user off, either temporarily or permanently depending on what conclusion is made by the court.

Karoo have finally made the decision that it is the legal system that must deal with illegal downloaders, not Karoo themselves. I respect this decision, personally. I’m not a Karoo user myself, but I would agree with what they are now doing.

However, that isn’t game over if Karoo do get a report from a court. There are some issues that can come up. There is no guaruntee that court orders are 100% accurate so innocent users may get cut off. IP addresses are too easy to hide or modify so it would be unfair to cut off a user because of their IP address downloading an illegal file. The only real way that ISPs (or courts) can be sure of illegal downloads is to analyse a user’s hard drive, but even this has its issues – there would have to be warrants involved and before you know it a quick illegal download can become a huge matter.

GEEK! has never encouraged illegal downloads and never will. GEEK! will shortly be posting a guide about staying legal online so make sure you stay tuned if you want some key tips on how to avoid getting in trouble with the law because of your internet connection.