dslreports logo
 story category
ISP Six Strikes Chief to be Named Soon
Commander and Whac-A-Mole in Chief

Last summer major ISPs including Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Cablevision signed off on a new plan by the RIAA and MPAA taking aim at copyright infringers on their networks. According to the plan, after four warnings ISPs are to begin taking "mitigation measures," which range from throttling a user connection to filtering access to websites until users acknowledge receipt of "educational material." As you might expect, that educational material's chapter on fair use rights likely won't exist.

While it has taken some time, it now appears that the project is poised to officially begin this July -- when ISPs will begin their job of playing content nanny in earnest. According to CNET, the entertainment industry is about to name the person they're putting in charge of the organization that will spearhead this latest game of whac-a-mole. The head of the Center for Copyright Information (CCI), whoever it winds up being, will be dealing with several ISPs that haven't entered into this agreement lightly:

(ISPs) are wary of alienating customers, and a music-industry source said that people on the entertainment side are worried the ISPs don't have the stomach for a fight on graduated response.
quote:
Sources in the entertainment industry say that the center will also try to work as a liaison between the ISPs and the entertainment companies. The ISPs have not come to antipiracy easily. They are wary of alienating customers, and a music-industry source said that people on the entertainment side are worried the ISPs don't have the stomach for a fight on graduated response.

Lesser, or whoever is hired to oversee CCI, likely faces many challenges in keeping the peace between the ISPs and entertainment companies. One thing that might help is that sources close to the planning say that CCI's advisory board will likely include some people from tech and organizations traditionally critical of the copyright stances taken by film studios and record labels.
It's unlikely that this last claim comes to fruition (or those included have a real say) as this six strikes plan was hashed out privately with the government's help -- but with no consumer or independent expert insight. As a result the plan has numerous problems, like relying on the IP address as proof of guilt, placing the burden of proof on the consumer, while forcing users to pay a $35 fee if they'd like to protest their innocence. Consumers should be way as this plan won't work to stop piracy, but it will jack up broadband costs for everyone. ISPs should be wary because trying to successfully police the Internet for piracy is like trying to drink the Hudson river in its entirety.

Most recommended from 24 comments



battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

2 recommendations

battleop

Member

Meanwhile....

In other news the Indie and Regional ISPs, CLECs, and WISPS are not playing along. There won't be much coverage on this front because it's more difficult to cover and does not polarize the readers like a nice big anti-big isp story.