Go, and never darken my towels again - Groucho Marx
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Big US ISPs agree to cut off filesharers
A NUMBER of major US internet service providers (ISPs) have sold their souls to the devil by creating the Center for Copyright Infringement (CCI) aligned with the RIAA and MPAA cartels.
This 'partnership' aims to both hand down punishment by tormenting internet subscribers and supposedly lead re-education efforts aimed at alleged repeat copyright infringement offenders.
The CCI isn't an effort that requires added government support, but it will likely be applauded by the pro-industry US government. As part of the agreement, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and Cablevision will voluntarily send out 'copyright alerts' to accused so-called 'pirates'.
These new "mitigation measures" will start with a type of digital warning and then additional alerts will become more insistent and overbearing.
Repeat allegations of offences could lead to ISPs throttling subscribers' internet speeds, forced communication with ISPs, or even internet service termination after multiple alleged offences. ISP subscribers accused of illegal filesharing will be able to challenge the music and film industries' allegations and ISPs' actions, presumably in private arbitration that will be weighted overwhelmingly in favour of the media cartels, after paying a mandatory $35 fee.
This power grab by big media companies in the United States appears to be a version of the so-called 'three strikes' laws that are already in place in the UK, France and other parts of Europe. These established 'three strikes' laws in some EU nations have largely been ignored by internet subscribers, and trying to teach internet users not to fileshare copyrighted media content has proven to be ineffective.
Suing individual filesharers has also been largely ineffective in suppressing filesharing. In addition to punishing only a small number of so-called 'pirates', the RIAA and MPAA members have also found John Doe lawsuits to be expensive and relatively inefficient as technologies changed.
Sympathetic big media industry observers have applauded the effort, but they also have very serious concerns related to the actual effectiveness and enforcement of the CCI's programme.
Critics claim that actual oversight will be difficult to enforce, making it a less effective solution against filesharing, with many filesharers slipping through the cracks. It's likely that a confusing mess will develop in the future, with both big media firms and these major ISPs inefficiently notifying users of alleged offences, arbitrary punishments imposed, and the proper steps users can take to resolve problems.
The Center for Democracy & Technology and Public Knowledge is rightly worried about internet users' rights when they could lose internet service without being found liable in any court of law. There is a quite legitimate concern that the CCI's intended draconian tactics will wrongfully ensnare alleged filesharers, who will then have to fork over a fee to try to prove their innocence in what will amount to an extra-judicial, corporate sponsored kangaroo court.
Internet users will largely ignore the possibility of any punishment as filesharing services modernise with higher levels of anonymity. Only time will tell if this joint effort between big ISPs and the music and film industry cartels will actually lead to any decrease in filesharing. µ
Tags: Internet
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"We all know that piracy is a crime and that all civilized countries punish pirates and are working to reduce piracy. You have to know that every means possible to stop piracy will be employed. It's foolish to think otherwise."
Thanks for taking time out of your long hard day of molesting children to share your thoughts with the rest of of Paul!
Before you respond....can you prove you aren't a child molester? NO? Well that's a shame, now off to Gitmo with you!
Perhaps the MAFIAA could produce some more TV commercials of "patriotic Americans" nodding approvingly as their "commie pinko" neighbors are hauled away by police for "sharing" stuff, and/or are having their cable connections hack-sawed off by "righteous American" ISP's.
The patriotic protagonist could demonstrate how "he ain't no terrorist pirate...he's got nothin' ta hide!" as he happily enters his credit card number into a MAFIAA web store while his family serves milk and cookies to FBI agents(and the camera could fade to black before the big banks arrive to repossess the patriot's home and possessions, due to his well-conditioned overspending on media and other consumer products).
After all, it certainly makes sense that the "need" for corporate profits trumps citizens' rights to privacy, freedom, or security of person.
The USA is now the "land of guilty until proven innocent" in court (or until you pay off the MAFIAA, whichever comes first).
We all know that piracy is a crime and that all civilized countries punish pirates and are working to reduce piracy. You have to know that every means possible to stop piracy will be employed. It's foolish to think otherwise.
It's time to start using good proxies it seems.
Setup a slicehost account or some cheapo server with oodles of bandwith somewhere with few laws.
Hosting in Lebanon maybe?! route all torrents through it via encrypted link.
This move will only pressure fileshares to go towards encryption and anonymity.
Let us celebrate yet another moment the media cartels have failed to see what the problem is.
If americans give their business to people like comcast and verizon and even AT&T, who are not shy about showing they are weasels, then they can expect this crap.
But in many places there's no choice (anymore) but for the worst companies for supplying internet service I hear, so it's also a shining example of the 'win' of US-style capitalism, you know - the stuff the euro politicians are so eagerly trying to shove down euro throats, the one that collapsed the world economy for all but the super-rich, the one that gives complete control over the people to a few insane rich bastards.
And ironically the US was established to not have an entitled unelected elite control the people, what a laugh.
Protect your wireless network. Its THAT simple, a href="http://www.logoglo.com/" gary@logoglo /a
Music,Movies and TV shows is about all that is still "Made in America" (well maybe some weapons of mass destruction too).
They must not be able to outsource it ,or they already would have.
"The Center for Democracy & Technology and Public Knowledge is rightly worried about internet users' rights when they could lose internet service without being found liable in any court of law."
Uhm, last I checked, Internet Access is not a right and there is no right to be provided service by any given ISP. If a private company chooses to not do business with an individual based on their usage of said service that company is well within their rights provided it's laid out in the TOS (and they are, as Alex alluded to).
If you don't like it, don't download illegal materials. Protect your wireless network.
Another useless and wasteful attempt at stopping something that can't be stopped. And we're paying for it. Amazing.
Bringing down costs, when they are making record profits now? Too bad people don't know their facts and just spew what they have been told. These industries have not been losing money to 'piracy'. The only time they were losing money is when they refused to sell in the new format. Now that they are, revenue is up everywhere, even with all these pirates! Here is one good example for you: http://www.gamerlive.tv/article/global-video-game-industry-sales-expected-top-112-billion-2015
The American ISPs have been doing this for some time. It's not new. The only new is the press release.
I think this is a much better solution to thwarting the wave of petty criminals and bringing down costs of software, movies, and games for legal citizens rather than letting the studios use heavy handed means.
Maybe games will come down in cost if the companies actually make money to cover the cost of development and maybe they will have enough money to fund more games. I miss the days prior to rampant piracy when I had a better selection of games and companies were not afraid to develop new franchises.
This seems like a great compromise... even if it has been in place for quite some time.