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US ISPs Delay Rollout of "Six Strikes" Copyright Enforcement Framework
zacharye writes with an excerpt from BGR: "The new 'six strikes' anti-piracy policy soon to be implemented by a number of major Internet service providers in the United States will reportedly stumble out of the gate. The policy, which is set to be adopted by Comcast, Cablevision, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and other ISPs, will see action taken against users caught downloading pirated files in six steps, ultimately resulting in bandwidth throttling or even service suspensions. The system responsible for managing the new policy may not be ready on schedule, however, and the targeted launch date of July 12th may slip back as a result..."
why I'm not going to switch our company Internet access to Comcast.
Throttle everyone on the basis of piracy! No need for network expansions! The shareholders will go wild!
Don't they mean users "accused" of downloading? As it seems to me, all that is required is an accusation by some asshole MAFIAA goon. It's not like they actually prove their accusations or anything.
and all of those other things. People will go where they can't be traced as easily and download all that they can, then local establishments will take the hit, and then when all those options are gone, some unsuspecting family will be hit next because I didn't configure their wireless connection to be secured.
I don't agree with pirating, but I feel this is also just going to backfire.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
I'm sure that none of the content that you're pirating comes from the US...
I've got one weird tip that will fix all your problems!
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Who are they hoodwinking? Just recently, a US judge ruled that you cannot identify a "pirate" using an IP address. They appear to be preparing to flog a dead horse, right?
There ain't no such thing.
Everything on the Internet is Copyrighted (or public domain)...
There may be illegal sharing. Or making available. Just not downloading.
Of course the "Industry" wants to plant a meme -- "illegal downloading".
Since there is no such thing (as illegal downloading(*)), usenet groups have been cut first (because usenet clients do NOT upload as they download). Peer-to-peer systems upload from clients, which is why they got hit.
MegaUpload? A shot across the bow -- and the service ended up being legal.
Advice: Turn off sharing in your bittorrent client, unless you are sure that you can distribute the material.
Or fetch the material from usenet, ftp, or other "one-way" means. Do not post the material on Web Sites, ftp servers or usenet -- do not make it available for download.
Unless you live somewhere more enlightened, of course (Personal Copy Exemption in Canada, for example).
(*) Except for specific material, child porn, hate literature, other material, depending on venue.
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
This will only serve to improve online privacy and anonymity technology, making it more robust, resilient, and secure---putting these companies and their attacks on Internet users in the same category as any other online criminals, right where they belong.
Liberty in your lifetime
Don't delay TV show DVDs until 3/4 of the way through the next season and I won't pirate the shows!
TOR, TOR, TOR! The more people who use The Onion Router, the better. There will need to be some brave souls out there to run Exit Nodes as they will be the ones targeted if, or when, accusations begin flying.
If they try to ban TOR in the United States, we _ALL_ simply stand up to our government and say "WHAT?!? I was under the impression the United States government espoused a belief in Freedom and Democracy for all people. Why do you think I run TOR? I do it to support those people who wish to communicate freely and throw off their oppressors! Since you are trying to ban TOR in the United States, , I presume you no longer support the struggles of those people who are being crushed by oppressive regimes? It seems to me, , that you actually want to turn the United States into an oppressive police state where the individual is much less important than a corporation, in violation of the Constitution of these United States. Didn't you swear an oath to uphold and defend said document?"
Never give them a chance to bullshit their way out of it. Hit them hard, hit them fast, and keep hitting them with the "So, you work for the corporations now? You certainly are no longer representing the People." and so on. Hey, if they can use "Think of the children??" then we, the People, can damn well use all of the above to get them to back down.
This is still a free country... right?
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
>but I feel this is also just going to backfire
This is probably why the implementation date is slipping. The ISPs might be waking up to the shitstorm that comes when they roll this out.
--
BMO
Unlimited (adv): Useful up to some predefined cap.
Palm trees and 8
Perhaps we should consider the nuclear option. This would be to simply destroy these big telecoms and labels that won't stop attacking internet freedom because of some copying. They are not hurting for money despite piracy and they pay the artists little, leaving the bands to survive on performance only.
Step 1. Free CD/DVD day. People all over the world burn all the music they can find onto DVD and CD-R's and pass them out on the street or leave them in places for people to find like bus seats, subway seats. Stick them in newspapers and free auto or rental property booklets you find at grocery stores and shopping malls. This will spread things around and cripple these goons financially. This will target the RIAA since they are the worst offender. Send a strong message by demolishing the last 3 or 4 big labels and leaving the RIAA in total ruin. Avoid hurting any indie labels if possible. We will need them later.
Step 2. For movies, push hard for a "Steam" like solution where you can buy once, redownload if you lose a copy and run it on any player. The MPAA members can go with this or they can face the fate of the RIAA. I think given that choice, they will go with the steam method and find that it actually increases sales and profits, especially on older stuff that can be put on sale at times.
Step 3. For music, it would be good to see a community form where most music gets shared freely and the artists make a living from live performance. They already do this now, the difference is that they rely on the big labels recording studios and for distribution. The internet can handle distribution easily. Just share. Bands would hire local micro studios to record in and let the experts there do the mixing and other work involved in polishing their album. Since tech is cheap now you don't have to be a multi billion dollar label to set up a studio. You just need some enthusiasts with know how and a few thousand dollars in computers and other equipment and local bands can come record for a reasonable fee. Production is cheap. CD burners, usb sticks and the internet. The band lives off of t-shirts and performance like today. The difference? No big labels to kowtow to and sign your rights away to forever. I think that is a win-win for everyone except the RIAA. The smaller indie labels will form the first micro-studios used by local bands to record.
There are two interpretations:
Palm trees and 8
The idea of "common carriers" is going out the window. Now, anyone who provides a network is going to be responsible for what their customers use it for.
That would be like holding government responsible for car accidents, since the government provides the roads. Obviously, this is a very different system, since the users of the roads are legally and financially liable for their use. It should be no different for any other infrastructure.
Just because the data can move easily through Comcast's fiber network doesn't mean Comcast doesn't have to pay its own upstream ISPs (Tata and Level 3) for transit. That's why Comcast and other wired ISPs impose a cap on home subscribers, so that the ISPs don't have to overpay for expanding upstream capacity.
Haven't you realized that's what they want? To shut down the Internet?
They don't say it outright, but they very much wish it was 1985 for the rest of us, when less than half the population had a home computer, and the hard drive, if present, was 20M, mp3 didn't exist yet and even if it had the hardware of those days couldn't decode it in real time, and what little data exchange there was happened over 1200 bit/s modems on local BBSes, a few of which participated in FidoNet. Music piracy was possible but limited and inconvenient, with the cassette tape being the best way. They themselves are quite happy to reap the benefits of modern technology, they just don't like the rest of us being able to do so too.
Don't agree with pirating? Futile, and dated of you. Might as well act disapproving of skirts above the ankle, and shocked over the licentiousness of 60's Rock and Roll. What do you think when you run into some senior who is still upset over Elvis the Pelvis? Who thinks the young are all depraved and they and the nation are going to Hell because of the music they listen to and their general disrespect for the traditions that made the country great. You roll your eyes at their cluelessness, that's what. And you ignore them. Dismiss them as a typical "get off my lawn" senior. No use talking to them.
Sharing is here to stay. No amount of force or cajoling will put this genie back in the bottle. Today, you still have lots of company. You and people of similar mind are why ISPs dare to even think of giving in to Big Media to engage in such idiocy as these 3 or 6 strikes efforts. You disagree with the means, but not the goal. That's enough of a green light for them. Often, means and ends cannot be so easily separated. 20 or 30 or 50 years from now, such attitudes will look utterly ridiculous to most everyone, like asking for sunshine without the heat and acting as if that's such a perfectly reasonable expectation that it need not be spoken aloud because that would be insulting to others' intelligence. "You know, something beggable but not leprosy, which is a pain in the ass to be blunt and excuse my French, sir." If you want to stay relevant, you'll have to accept piracy.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
They wouldn't be "overpaying"; they would be paying the requisite sum to support the service they are selling.
Or they could choose to sell less service. For example outside telecommunications, look at all the ice cream manufacturers that have cut the package size from 64 ounces to 48.
Morally, they shouldn't be advertising a service that they cannot provide
Which is why ISPs have pulled their "unlimited" ads in favor of "always on" ads.
That depends on too many different factors to list. Sometimes you don't have a choice and you're stuck with using a company you don't necessarily agree with - many slashdotters here hate Microsoft but have to use Windows in some form because their views don't warrant them moving jobs.
Using my original analogy, I wouldn't befriend that person because I have many friends and don't need any more. If he and I were the last people alive, I'd probably have to make an exception and work with him.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
This process is called "compromise", and many people need to relearn what it entails.
I've been fortunate, over the past 7 or so years, I've been almost windows free, only needing to run it in a VM on occasion to support a project, but otherwise being windows free. My ideals of not using a subpar OS were realizable due to a combination of circumstance and personal effort, yet I still had to compromise occasionally.
The problem with these companies is that they comprise almost all the options for service in more than 80% of the residences in the US. Unless you're willing to buy your own line, there's not much you can do if you want both high speed and relatively inexpensive service. (both terms used loosely) I predict that what thisnew policy will give rise to is encrypted decentralized darknets that any user can utilize and tracing becomes a non-trivial process. Think TOR with better performance and a decentralized directory. Using 1 or 2 levels of indirection with potentially a different concept for transfers could have tremendous performance gains in file transfers with significantly lowered traffic. It also makes tracking such activity require a warrant and a lot more effort than merely sniffing packets.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
This is probably why the implementation date is slipping. The ISPs might be waking up to the shitstorm that comes when they roll this out.
I wonder how much government bailout money we will need to pay in extra taxes once the ISPs lose the large majority of their customers and income...
If supposedly 50% of people pirate just software, that alone will result in the ISPs only having 50% of their current income.
Throw music and movies into the mix, and it would not surprise me if that number was over 75%.
That's a hell of a lot of income to willingly refuse to take...
In Linux at least, changing your mac address is trivial (ifconfig "device name" hw ether "new mac address"). The problem with that, and everything else they are doing, is that the real criminals will still be two steps ahead of the law, but the common people (their best customers) will pay. Crazy long-term business plan.