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Anti-Piracy Firm Offering ISPs Money For Outing File-Sharers

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-at-first-you-don't-succeed,-open-the-checkbook dept.

mytrip points out news that an anti-piracy firm called Nexicon has been offering financial incentives to ISPs in exchange for having the ISPs police their own networks for copyright infringement. Nexicon would offer their services (for a fee) to help the ISPs pinpoint users who are illegally sharing files, and then give the users an option to "settle" through their "Get Amnesty" website. The revenue generated by such settlements would then be shared with the ISPs. Jerry Scroggin, owner of a smaller ISP in Louisiana, is still skeptical, saying, "I would still wind up losing customers. I would also have to pay Nexicon for this ... I have to survive in this economy but I don't have the big marketing dollars that bigger ISPs have. I have to fund 401(K)s and find ways not to lay off people. Giving free rein to the RIAA is not part of my business model."

3 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. they pitch an interesting plan by v1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "I would still wind up losing customers. I would also have to pay Nexicon for this ...

    They do address this on their web page

    THE VALUE: GetAmnesty provides content owners with a new revenue stream by collecting settlement fees on their behalf from those who illegally download their copyrighted content. Further, violators are tagged with a complete history of their downloading activities, which is easily translated to create customer profiles for online marketing purposes.

    Looks like they intend for the loss of customers to be more than offset by the extortion payments you receive from some of them.

    I'm betting NOT. Suing (or extorting, threatening to sue and selling "protection") your customers has never been an effective business model. You'd think they'd have learned that by now.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  2. Ahh, I see by Xelios · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So the RIAA/MPAA's strategy in stopping the lawsuits was simply to outsource that operation to a 3rd party in an attempt to distance themselves from the negative publicity they've been getting. Should anything go wrong, this company will just be cut loose and left to deal with whatever mess they've gotten themselves into, and the cycle will start again with a new company.

    --
    Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.
  3. A little information about Nexicon by Xelios · · Score: 5, Informative

    I found this through a quick google search. It seems Nexicon is the company behind YouTube's video identification software, and that it used to be known as Cyco.net, an online seller of cigarettes. After acquiring two small IT companies it had a change of heart, and decided to change its business model from selling tobacco online to providing the content industry with copyright infringement solutions. It makes perfect sense.

    Article about the renaming to Nexicon
    Article about their work with Youtube

    --
    Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.