UPDATE: In a new development, ISPs will not be initating a six strike rule, instead enabling the "Copyright Alert System. Read more about that here. Orignal story follows:
The golden age of downloading on the internet might be seeing it's demise. Wired reports by the end of the year, ISPs (short for internet service providers) will begin tracking peer-to-peer file sharing services for illegal downloading and will send alerts to their userbase when they have been "caught" infringing. After four such alerts, users may experience speed slowdown, pop up messages about copyright infringement and other invasive messages. After six strikes, the user may be kicked off their internet service provider.
This “Copyright Alert System” is backed by two big lobby groups, the music coalition, RIAA and the movie equivalent, MPAA. Major service providers such as AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon are onboard with the initiative. Here is how it would work:
On the first offense, internet subscribers will receive an e-mail “alert” from their ISP saying the account “may have been” misused for online content theft. On the second offense, the alert might contain an “educational message” about the legalities of online file sharing.
On the third and fourth infractions, the subscriber will likely receive a pop-up notice “asking the subscriber to acknowledge receipt of the alert.”
After four alerts, according to the program, “mitigation measures” may commence. They include “temporary reductions of internet speeds, redirection to a landing page until the subscriber contacts the ISP to discuss the matter or reviews and responds to some educational information about copyright, or other measures (as specified in published policies) that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter.”
Sohn said copyright scofflaws are not going to be dinged each time internet-snoop MarkMonitor detects infringement on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.
“Each strike is not one infringement. Each strike is dozens or scores or hundreds of infringements,” Sohn said in a telephone interview.
Lesser explained that, when the first infringement is detected, “you will get an alert.”
But after that, strikes will only be counted every seven days. “There’s a grace period between each alert,” Lesser said.
“The goal was to come up with a program that was educational in nature, not with the intention of being punitive,” she said.
Of course they say the goal is to be educational, but who exactly needs educating? Is there anybody who doesn't know what they're doing is illegal?
The question is will this be an effective deterrent? Personally, I think it will just lead to downloads finding other means to get their content. It just means torrent sites and other peer-to-peer networking will just be on the decline, and "warez" sites that like to files on anonymous download sites like Rapidshare will be on the rise. It will be interesting to see how this story develops.
UPDATE: In a new development, ISPs will not be initating a six strike rule, instead enabling the "Copyright Alert System. Read more about that here.
[via BrooklynVegan]
