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Shocker: Public Not Involved in 'Six Strikes' Plan
EFF Urges Transparency, Public Participation

Earlier this month 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." The EFF has already pointed out some serious problems with the plan, ranging from users only being able to use the "open hotspot excuse" once, to users having to shell out $35 to protest their innocence.

In a follow up post by the EFF (via Techdirt) they note that rather unsurprisingly, at no point was the public involved in the creation of this plan. ISPs were, the entertainment industry was, and the government was -- but nobody bothered to ask independent experts, consumer advocates or the public (who this will impact in the form of higher prices and potential legal or connectivity problems) their thoughts. Had they been included, the EFF notes that the plan might include things like penalties for companies who falsely make copyright infringement claims. It might also shift the burden of proof onto these companies -- not users who not only must pay $35 to participate in what sounds like somewhat of a farce:
quote:
The burden should be on the content owners to establish infringement, not on the subscribers to disprove infringement. The Internet access providers will treat the content owners’ notices of infringement as presumptively accurate--obligating subscribers to defend against the accusations, and in several places requiring subscribers to produce evidence “credibly demonstrating” their innocence. This burden-shift violates our traditional procedural due process norms and is based on the presumed reliability of infringement-detection systems that subscribers haven't vetted and to which they cannot object.
As you might expect, the EFF also takes issue with the "education" campaigns that will be foisted upon offenders, and whether or not the groups overseeing guilt determination will really be objective. Ultimately, the EFF is urging that the ISPs and entertainment industry incorporate real public input before taking this plan live -- something you can be fairly certain won't happen.