Monitoring internet service providers is 'tremendously difficult'

12:24 14th January 2010

Monitoring internet service providers (ISPs) to implement tougher regulations and legal action for filesharing and media piracy online is "tremendously difficult", an expert has said.

Mark Jackson, editor of ISPreview, said in order to monitor traffic, ISPs require expensive 'Deep Packet Inspection' technology which is "tremendously difficult for both big and small ISPs to afford without significant price rises or support from the government and rights holders".

Mr Jackson went on to say that for an ISP with several million customers it becomes a really complex task to monitor what everybody is doing or transferring at any one time.

"Some ISPs would even call doing that and being accurate with it at the same time technically impossible," he added.

His comments followed calls to regulate and set out tougher legal action for filesharing and media piracy on the internet.

Earlier this month, the pan-media European Audiovisual Social Dialogue Committee released a statement calling on the EU to make "improvements to the legal framework".

Written by Derek Oldman

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