There has been a lot of talk courtesy of the entertainment industry lobbying groups about a three strikes type act for copyright infringers who will be kicked off the Web is they get three warnings for downloading or sharing copyright righted files from their ISPs.
This of course is predicated on the fact that the ISPs are willing to become the copyright police for organizations like the RIAA and MPAA. This type o thing has happened in France with some pretty dubious result but know it looks like the idea is gaining traction in the US but with a few modifications.
According to a post over at Ars Technica it seems that all the major American ISPs have agreed; via a voluntary agreement with the music and movie companies, to crack down on online copyright infringes. These companies include: Verizon, Comcast, Cablevision, and Time Warner Cable. The major difference between the US agreement and others elsewhere is that it will take “six strikes” before you “possibly, maybe” get tossed from the web.
ISPs have agreed to institute “mitigation measures” (or, as you and I know them, punishments) based on the collected say-so of copyright holders. These measures begin with the fifth or six alert, and they may 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 that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter.”
There is no requirement that ISPs disconnect a user’s Internet connection at any point, and indeed ISPs say they will refuse any measure that might cut off a user’s phone service, e-mail access, “or any security or health service (such as home security or medical monitoring).” But ISPs are free to disconnect users if they wish (as indeed they have always been).
Ya, this is going to end well.
