The nation’s major internet service providers are delaying an initiative backed by the Obama administration and pushed by Hollywood and record labels to disrupt and possibly terminate internet access for online copyright scofflaws.
The announcement Wednesday by Jill Lesser, executive director of the Center for Copyright Information — the name of the group behind the program — marks the second time the so-called “Copyright Alert System” has been delayed. The program was to begin by year’s end, but has now been tabled until early 2013 because Hurricane Sandy “seriously affected our final testing schedules,” Lesser said.
The plan, now four years in the making, includes participation by AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. After four offenses, it calls for these residential internet providers to initiate so-called “mitigation measures” (.pdf) that might include reducing internet speeds and redirecting a subscriber’s service to an “educational” landing page about infringement.
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.
Internet subscribers may challenge their dings for a $35 filing fee paid to an arbitration service. They also get a free pass, one time, if they claim the infringement was based on having an open, unencrypted Wi-Fi network.
The internet companies may eliminate service altogether for repeat file-sharing offenders, although the plan does not directly call for such drastic action.
Peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted works is the infringement that the initiative is trying to target. The activity is easily detectable, since the IP addresses of internet customers are generally apparent when users transfer files. Internet-snoop MarkMonitor of San Francisco has been tapped to police the traffic.
Cyberlockers, e-mail attachments, shared Dropbox folders and other ways to infringe are not included in the crackdown.
The agreement, heavily lobbied for by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, does not require that internet service providers filter copyrighted material transiting their networks.
And despite the initiative, rights holders will remain free to sue internet subscribers who engage in infringing activities. The Copyright Act allows damages of up to $150,000 per infringement.
The initiative was set to kick in earlier this year but was tabled by ISPs who feared a backlash after federal anti-piracy proposals — the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act — went down in flames amid a huge internet protest and blackout.
ISPs Delay Monitoring of Illicit File-Sharing
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ISPs Delay Monitoring of Illicit File-Sharing
