Six Strikes launches in the US

The new “Copyright Alert System” is finally launching across all of the major Internet providers in the United States of America including  AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon. The organisation coordinating the Hollywood-backed scheme, the Center for Copyright Information, confirmed in a blog post yesterday (25^th February)  that “the implementation phase of the Copyright Alert System” had begun ushering in a system which will monitor and collect the IP addresses of computers apparently downloading and sharing copyrighted content illegally, ultimately exposing infringing users to the risk of "bandwidth throttling". The CCI says that the move marks “the culmination of many months of work on this groundbreaking and collaborative effort to curb online piracy and promote the lawful use of digital music, movies and TV shows”.

Suspected infringers will be flagged up to the Internet providers as part of a “six strikes” program. If a user is accused of downloading the latest box office smash or hot music track,  the user will initially receive “educational notices” designed to warn the user that they have misbehaved. Ignore the notice will results in the next stage of the ‘six strikes’ programme, with an escalation in actions as the process continues. After receiving two “educational” Copyright Alerts, alleged violators will be sent two additional alerts requiring a response; the most severe "mitigation" steps, which would come after the fifth and sixth detected infringement, could reduce or “throttle”  the customer's bandwidth or redirect that person's browsing automatically to an anti-piracy information page. Notably, the ISPs haven't been willing to go as far as the major studios and labels have sought, which would be to actually cut off a users Internet access after multiple alleged offences.

Jill Lesser, executive director of the CCI, said the five ISPs would send notices only about illegal file-sharing, even though it is clear that much of the piracy online has shifted to unauthorized streaming sites and locker services. "It is certainly not the most innovative form of piracy," Lesser said of file-sharing, "but it’s still among the biggest" adding that the content industries had wanted to avoid biting off more than they could chew but “Once they've shown they can make the system work we can find ways to expand it."

Users who receive a warning notice which they believe is false or inaccurate they can challenge it with an independent arbitrator — but will have to fork out a $35 “filing fee”. Opponents of the scheme say that they lay the groundwork for more invasive monitoring by ISPs (with one calling the new scheme a ‘spy programme’), and that they threaten to expose users who should be protected by “fair use” provisions in US copyright law to sanctions by their ISP.

http://rt.com/usa/six-strikes-program-begins-434/

ISPs' six strikes enforcement plan in force next July

Six strikes and you're out ...
always disappointing

As our readers may remember, in summer last year some major US ISPs (AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon) entered an agreement with music and film industries to adopt and implement policies aimed at discouraging their customers from illegally downloading copyright-protected materials (see Ben's post here).

Since then, this agreement has been referred to as 'graduated response' or, as Ars Technica called it, 'six strikes' enforcement plan.

When entering the agreement, ISPs made it clear that they would protect their subscribers' privacy and not filter or monitor their own networks for infringement. In addition, it was agreed that ISPs would never terminate an Internet connection entirely, or otherwise interfere with subscribers' ability to receive phone calls and emails.

As explained in Time Magazine, this is how the six strikes policy would work: 

1) If a copyright owner complains to an ISP (presumably, based on sniffing out IP addresses through BitTorrent),then that service provider sends an online alert such as an email to the subscriber. The alert explains how to secure a wireless network, how to avoid copyright violations in the future and how to lawfully obtain content in the future.2) A second alert may follow if illicit file-sharing persists, or the ISP may move on to the next alert.3) With the third alert, there will be some kind of mechanism (like a pop-up notice or landing page) to ensure that the subscriber received the message.4) Another alert. Same drill as the last one.5) On the fifth alert, the ISP may take action, such as temporarily reducing connection speeds or requiring the user to review and respond to educational information on copyright. The ISP may also skip the mitigation measures and just issue another alert.6) By the sixth alert, all participating ISPs will either throttle the user or require educational measures. The entertainment industry doesn’t expect that many people will persist with copyright violations at this point.

Since the six strikes policy was adopted, however, the parties to the agreement have gone rather quiet … Until yesterday, at least.

It was not easy to find
skilled players to develop
an efficient six strikes
infrastructure

Indeed, during a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers, RIAA's CEO Cary Sherman announced that most of the participating ISPs are on track to begin implementing the program by next 12 July, as reported by CNET.

As explained by Sherman, this is because the six strikes policy would have taken a year to set up, in that "each ISP has to develop their infrastructure for automating the system". They need this "for establishing the database so they can keep track of repeat infringers, so they know that this is the first notice or the third notice. Every ISP has to do it differently depending on the architecture of its particular network. Some are nearing completion and others are a little further from completion."

It will be interesting to see the six strikes policy actually in force, especially now that proposed legislative initiatives such as SOPA and PIPA have never been least popular, both in the US and abroad.