The court decision that forced ISP Tele2 to block access to AllofMP3.com had a ripple effect on other service providers. On December 12, the ISP Perspektiv Bredband also blocked AllofMP3.com from its Swedish and Danish customers.

AllofMP3.com is a Russian music store who sells an unrivaled collection of digital music for dramatically reduced prices. Not only are music files purchased on AllofMP3.com of a superior quality to most "authorized" services, the music sold has no DRM and is available in a variety of formats. Because copyright holders claim they have yet to see a dime from AllofMP3.com, the service is often times labeled as illegal. However the Russian site has contested otherwise, and has yet to fall under any type of successful prosecution in Russia.

Since AllofMP3.com has yet to be ruled illegal in Sweden or Denmark, the actions by both ISPs drew enormous criticism from citizens, journalists and copyright reform organizations such as the Swedish Bureau of Piracy. Criticism was fueled when Perspektiv Bredband admitted the action was a morally based decision - not a legal one.

"This kind of moral policing is an attack on the essence of what has made internets such a wonderful arena for communication," said the Bureau of Piracy. "Internet can be this vibrant space much thanks to the stupidity of the infrastructure, it delivers data from A to B, no questions asked. Configuration and intelligence is left to the end users. Choosing what is transferred is up to you and me, not your ISP nor the Chinese or your own government."

The Swedish Bureau of Piracy, in conjunction with its allies ThePirateBay, used their considerable political pressure to fight back. The organizations responded by blocking Perspektiv Bredband's customers from accessing the overwhelmingly popular PirateBay BitTorrent tracker.

ThePirateBay has become an Internet phenomenon, who's global popularity is only surpassed by its popularity in Sweden. The threat of an ISP losing a considerable percentage of its customer base, coupled with an increasingly "pro-censorship" reputation, has forced Perspektiv Bredband to reverse its decision.

In a press release issued today, Perspektiv Bredband has rescinded its decision to block AllofMP3.com. Perspektiv Bredband cites that it acted hastily, and did not consider its initial decision properly.

"We made a hasty decision and we withdrew from our mission. We are sorry about this. Together with our new chairman of the board, the management agrees that limiting Internet access is not within the framework of our business, says Fredrik Winbladh, President of Perspektiv Bredband.

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Unauthorized Distribution :: AllOfMP3.com

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