The ISP War on Piracy

Internet service providers are taking problems of copyright security into their own hands

By: Khristopher Reardon

Via garryknight, flickr

Pirates beware: the White House has conscripted Internet Service Providers into becoming internet vigilantes to curb stolen intellectual property through a ‘six strikes’ plan.

The rag tag group consisting of ISPs, including Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner Cable, will try to become more active in curtailing the wanton downloading of copyrighted materials by some of their users.

They will send notices to subscribers whose connections are allegedly being used for content theft; this isn’t new. What’s new is if a user receives multiple notices and doesn’t respond, the ISP may take further action. Actions range from reducing download speeds to cutting off access altogether.

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ISPs will inform offenders of copyright laws and even how to check their computer and network security.

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The Center for Democracy and Technology (CTD) has already leveraged its concerns about the new rules which will be policed by the internet providers.

“Among our concerns, we are particularly disappointed that the agreement lists internet account suspension among the possible remedies. We believe it would be wrong for any ISP to cut off subscribers, even temporarily, based on allegations that have not been tested in court,” said CTD in a statement.

ISPs will inform offenders of copyright laws and even how to check their computer and network security. It will even direct users to where they can find legally downloadable content.

The thought is that this will push internet users toward using legal services accessible online, such as iTunes or Netflix.

According to the release, ISPs won’t give names of offending users to copyright holders. This will keep users from being chased by companies with lawsuits in hand.

This marks a major victory for the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), who have battled ISPs for years to take a more active role in assuring that copy written content isn’t illegally pirated by their users.

They believe this move will protect intellectual properties, and turn the tide on the heavy losses they’ve experienced through pirating.

The MPAA has a large stake in Canada as well as the parent of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association. It convinced Canada to become one of the few countries in the world to enact anti-camcording laws back in 2009.

It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if these heroes come to Canada to exert a little pressure and see if they can convince us to give up our evil doing ways.

ARB Team
Arbitrage Magazine
Business News with BITE.

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