ISPs Agree To Become Copyright Cops For RIAA And Co.

Industry trade groups like the RIAA and the MPAA have been beating on Congressional doors for years now in a fruitless attempt to restrict Internet access for rampant file-sharers. Thanks to a tangled web of possible political and legal ramifications, the government's been hesitant to drop the banhammer on everyday pirates. Sick of the foot-dragging, the content associations just went Dirty Harry. No, they didn't take the law into their own hands – they bypassed it completely by forging a deal with the largest ISPs, who will now take a "graduated response" against file-sharers at the copyright owners' command.

American Internet users, get ready for three strikes "six strikes." Major US Internet providers—including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Cablevision, and Time Warner Cable—have just signed on to a voluntary agreement with the movie and music businesses to crack down on online copyright infringers. But they will protect subscriber privacy and they won't filter or monitor their own networks for infringement. And after the sixth "strike," you won't necessarily be "out."

Much of the scheme mirrors what ISPs do now. Copyright holders will scan the 'Net for infringement, grabbing suspect IP addresses from peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. If they see your IP address participating in a swarm for, say, Transformers, they will look up that IP address to see which ISP controls it, then fire off a message

I love how the EFF has been trying to tell people this for years. And no one cares until it's too late. D;
https://www.eff.org/

I'm sorry to ask but, who are they exactly? Haven't heard about them until just now.

So from the general response, this isn't a big issue because most of FAKKU does not use a major provider or because it's not an issue period. is this correct?

Actually it *is* a big issue, since this is a big step against net neutrality and even the lesser providers may be influenced through the chilling effect of this turn.

ISPs have committed to forward such notices to subscribers—though, crucially, they won't turn over actual subscriber names or addresses without a court order. This is a one-way notification process.

I believe Tsuyaru is correct.

Until the ISPs actually start handing street addresses of ip adresses/timeframe to RIAA, no one gets sued other than the ISP. Therefore, it would be in their interest to not execute those measures. So nothing to worry about yet.

from the same ars technica article

The new agreement isn't a three-strikes-and-you're-out arrangement, as was previously rumored. Instead, Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable will send users an alert "in response to a notice from a copyright holder" like the RIAA. If someone continues to download or upload copyrighted content, a "graduated response" takes effect: ISPs will redirect users to a splash page containing the warning or start sending pop-ups insinuating that their customers are dirty criminals. After five "alerts," the ISPs turn to "Mitigation measures," which are oh-so-nebulous "measures that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter."

Really no matter how much they try to crack down it will never stop. People will always find a way to get around laws and other security measures. So in the end I'm not worried about this at all.