Slashdot Mirror


ISP 'Six Strikes' Plan Delayed

MrSeb sends this excerpt from DailyDot: "Shortly, a new system in the U.S. will allow your ISP to give you gradually sterner warnings and possible punishment if you download copyrighted material. The Copyright Alerts System (CAS) — more commonly known as the 'six strikes' policy, after the number of warnings users receive — is coming. Soon. Any minute now. Really. But it's not here yet, even though several news outlets — including CNN — said the system would go online yesterday, Thursday. Speaking to the Daily Dot, a press contact for the six strikes system says: 'We do not intend to launch until we are confident that the program is consumer friendly. We expect our implementation to begin later this year, with each of the ISPs launching at potentially overlapping but different times.' ... The six strikes system is officially helmed by an industry coalition called the Center for Copyright Information (CCI), which was created by the MPAA and RIAA. It counts the U.S.'s five top ISPs under its umbrella: AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon."

157 comments

  1. No COX? by Moheeheeko · · Score: 1

    Sweet.

    1. Re:No COX? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Cox doesn't fuck around. I have their 50 Mbps package for $100 a month. I don't have cable. I don't get OTA broadcasts, because I've not bought an antenna. I do download about 2 TB of data a month between Netflix, Pandora, and others. I've never had a word said to me about it. They even give me additional bandwidth for the first few megabytes of a transfer when network congestion allows. They call this Superboost, I think. Works well when downloading a bunch of very small files that will be decoded and combined into a bunch of bigger files. They don't seem to care that their are effectively Superboosting the entire multi-gigabyte download.

    2. Re:No COX? by rickb928 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Cox has had a 3 strikes policy regarding DCMA notices since 2008. Enforcement has been spotty, but they treat it as a TOC violation.

      Wanna try it out and see if they still enforce it?

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    3. Re:No COX? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesnt seem like they do to me, then again, I dont use pirate bay.

    4. Re:No COX? by spire3661 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Officially, your account is capped at 300 GB/mo. I have the 25 Mbps Cox package and they 'cap' me at 250 GB, although i make sure i never hit that high. They now show your usage on their website if you care to look. Internet Usage i think its called. Somehow i doubt you are pulling 2 TB/mo without hearing anything from Cox.

      --
      Good-bye
    5. Re:No COX? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      2 TB a month is pulling nearly 1 MBps (~800 kBps), every second of the month, every month. I don't think even netflix would cause that much. Pandora is probably just noise in that kind of bandwidth measurement. Must hit the torrents really hard

    6. Re:No COX? by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      he could be pulling a lot off of usenet i know guy with two internet connections in his house one comcast, one qwest/c-link, and he reguarly pulls the max off of both.

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
    7. Re:No COX? by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      Cox doesn't fuck around.

      sigh. slashdot, you never change, do you?

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    8. Re:No COX? by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Verizon has or had something similar. I came home one evening to find the internet was down (verizon). after calling support, I learned that I was accused of downloading copyrighted materials 3 times and I should have seen an email about it.

      After arguing with the tech that I couldn't receive email with my internet shut off, they expanded on the claims. I denied the accusations and stated that no one was at the house at the time of the claimed copyrighted materials BS and that I have no wireless for someone else to access. They eventually turned the internet back on and I found that some RIAA group claimed I had 4 infractions of violating their copyright by downloading the same copyrighted materials 4 times within 2 seconds. The reports were actually within 1 second according to the time stamp made by Verizon's site but their automated BS program logged what it considered a violation 4 times within 2 seconds of downloading Star Trek. After contesting that being on my record, they eventually removed it from my record.

      I would expect a lot of issues like this to materialize with this new system.

    9. Re:No COX? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I average about 1.5 terabytes per month with Comcast. Of course, that's the entire reason I pay the $112/mo for a business account. (There was no other way I could get more than 250gb/mo, since they don't offer a way to buy a second account or a second bundle of bandwidth or anything). I've even considered paying the $370/mo for 100mbps.. I wonder how much transfer per month I'd get away with under that. :D

  2. oh boy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yup

    1. Re:oh boy by jc42 · · Score: 2

      ... will allow your ISP to give you gradually sterner warnings and possible punishment if you download copyrighted material.

      I'd wonder if this applies to my downloading of /. a couple of times per day. After all, as we're notified at the bottom of the main page, all the comments here are copyrighted by the posters. I certainly don't have signed licenses from every commenter in this or any other thread giving me permission to download their copyrighted material. So presumably I'm in violation of all sorts of copyright laws every time I download a discussion page here.

      The obvious weaselly attempt to downplay this would be based on the idea that, if someone posts on a public forum like this, they have implicitly given everyone (or at least all "members" of the forum ;-) to download their copyrighted material.

      But TFS doesn't include any such qualifications, and neither do any of the few other comments I've seen on the topic elsewhere. So, unless the editors are trying to mislead us, they really do mean if I "download copyrighted material", not if I "download copyrighted material from sites that don't want me to download anything".

      One might get the idea that this "Internet" thing is merely a ruse to trick us all into violating copyright. Sorta like if a store put its goods out on the public walkways, with no price tags anywhere. Lots of tags saying how useful or fashionable or whatever the goods are, but nothing suggesting that they want any money in exchange for carrying something away. Then they turn around and cry "theft" when people pick things up and walk away with them.

      Of course, this parallel isn't exact. On the Internet, if I see something I like and carry off a copy, the thing is still sitting there as before, available to everyone else who likes it, not to mention the sites' owners. Or maybe I want to post a comment about how awful something is. Whatever. Metaphors only go so far in discussions like this.

      Anyway, are they really suggesting that my ISP should start warning me that when I download pages from slashdot.org, I'm in clear violations of stated copyrights? If so, will /. have to shut down to protect its reader?

      (Interested slash-dummies want to know. ;-)

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
  3. Reminds me of a riddle by TankSpanker04 · · Score: 0

    from the do-you-even-know-how-baseball-works dept

    Q: How many outs are in an inning?
    A: 6

    so maybe they do know baseball...

    1. Re:Reminds me of a riddle by TankSpanker04 · · Score: 0

      nevermind, was comparing outs and strikes

      (mod parent up +1 troll)

    2. Re:Reminds me of a riddle by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Six Strikes

      There comes a time when baseball analogies cease to make sense.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    3. Re:Reminds me of a riddle by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Well, if you're on the Boston Red Sox, you get 5 strikes. That's close.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    4. Re:Reminds me of a riddle by Lucky75 · · Score: 1

      What if I have two strikes and then just keep fouling the ball? Does that mean you can just keep downloading pirated material?

      --
      DNA -- National Dyslexic Association
    5. Re:Reminds me of a riddle by sjames · · Score: 1

      If we play this right, we can get their pitch count over 100 by the bottom of the third.

  4. Make up your damn mind! by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the 'six strikes' policy, after the number of warnings users receive â" is coming.

    We do not intend to launch until we are confident that the program is consumer friendly.

    Either you're going to eventually launch it, or not. It will never be 'consumer friendly' since it's a blatantly anti-consumer move intended to whore out to an unrepentantly anti-consumer organization.

    1. Re:Make up your damn mind! by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Consumer friendly" in this case means, "Making sure people remain friendly." The last thing anyone wants is for consumers to realize they are being exploited.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:Make up your damn mind! by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      Either you're going to eventually launch it, or not. It will never be 'consumer friendly' since it's a blatantly anti-consumer move intended to whore out to an unrepentantly anti-consumer organization.

      Just wait until they've done this to about two dozen decent programmers... they'll invent some new crypto protocol that makes bittorrent look like the redheaded stepchild of piracy... "You can't stop the signal, Mel." -- Mr. Universe

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    3. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Replace "consumer" with "buyer" and it is a real argument. Non-paying consumers are not their target audience. If you insist on violating copyright laws and downloading things you have not purchased, you are definately consuming, but not the kind of consumer they want.
      Their goal is to make it so that people not trying to violate copyright law are not bothered by their system are remain subscribers. Those are the only consumers they are concerned about. To that end, they have to do in-house testing to get the false positive rate low enough to avoid ticking off the subscribers they want, while keeping the true positive rate high enough to catch at least a few token copyright infringers every year.

      So yes, we can argue day in and day out about what a horrible mess the current copyright laws are, and we can find enough evidence to justify the execution of hundreds of lawyers alongside the C*Os of many companies. Regardless of that, this is an attempt by a company (that made the mistake of being recognized as a possible filter of data) to limit the amount of copyright violations sent throught their tubes.

    4. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Mel?

    5. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's "Mal".

    6. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Serenity reference. Except the part where his name is "Mal" for Malcolm.

    7. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Zmobie · · Score: 4, Informative

      Either you're going to eventually launch it, or not. It will never be 'consumer friendly' since it's a blatantly anti-consumer move intended to whore out to an unrepentantly anti-consumer organization.

      Just wait until they've done this to about two dozen decent programmers... they'll invent some new crypto protocol that makes bittorrent look like the redheaded stepchild of piracy... "You can't stop the signal, Mel." -- Mr. Universe

      Already been done. It is called BTGuard and you can get it plugged into most torrent trackers for a small monthly fee. Lifehacker ran an article about it not long ago.

      http://lifehacker.com/5863380/how-to-completely-anonymize-your-bittorrent-traffic-with-btguard

      http://btguard.com/

      Also, as outlined in the lifehacker article there are other solutions to mask the traffic from an ISP and there is no way in hell they can block some of them because they have much broader uses than just hiding your torrent tracking traffic. VPNs are way too widely used by so many businesses for telecommutes and other such, so it will ALWAYS be an option. And since (at least I think) it would be illegal wiretapping for them to capture your packets and decrypt them, there is not a damn thing they can do about it.

    8. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I translate "consumer friendly" to mean "it doesn't accuse innocent people, which would piss everyone off".

      Most people don't mind if real "pirates" are caught, so long as they themselves aren't bothered.

    9. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They could all be false positives, just because i download something, doesn't mean i don't own it, if i buy a copy of windows and lose the disk, and just download an iso and use the same key that i legally purchased, what have i stolen? What if i buy a game at a store, never open the box and download it just to avoid the shitty drm and register the game using my perfectly legal key i purchased, my isp has no way of knowing any of this.

    10. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Have you ever heard of "collateral damage"? This Six Strikes nonsense doesn't require any courts to be involved (which means there will be no standard of evidence) and therefore will certainly affect innocents.

    11. Re:Make up your damn mind! by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      I don't know if that would help girlIT, it seems like the ISPs are just gonna keep getting nastier and nastier caps so frankly it won't matter if you have 6 strikes or 3, you won't be downloading shit unless its approved.

      Now I have Cablelynx, been told by one person its Cox, another its Verizon, damned if i know, but what I DO know as I was told by one of the guys actually doing back end support that certain things COUNT, others DON'T. For example i used to like to play with new Linux distros, to see if I could get any to pass my support test of taking a couple of years old version and upgrading to current without breakage, I don't do that now. I don't do that now because Linux repos count against the cap, Windows? don't. Could be they have their own WSUS, could be they simply give MSFT a pass, but in either case i can sit here and download every patch and SP since XP RTM and not hit the cap but I did my little experiment with a couple of distros and got dinged for an extra $20 on overage charges. I have been told the cableco VoIP don't count but Vonage does, but the way they've got the bundles set up I'd be screwed to take Vonage over theirs anyway, and I've been told their VOD don't count, Netflix does. I don't know if the last one is true but I do know my Netflix heavy customers have been complaining of overage charges so i'm guessing its correct.

      So you see GirlIT, the ISPs don't really need these strikes, they'll simply yank on the chain until you go where you want to go. I'm hitting the Steam sale heavy so I'll find out on next month's bill whether Steam counts or not, but all they have to do to "herd you" in the direction they desire is to make sure services they want you to use don't smack against the caps while the "naughty naughty consumer" ones slam right into it. Should that be illegal? Hell yes it should, talk about blatant anti-trust, but good luck getting anything done about it when our congress all have kneepads so they can be comfortable when they blow big business.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    12. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 1

      Have you ever heard of "collateral damage"? This Six Strikes nonsense doesn't require any courts to be involved (which means there will be no standard of evidence) and therefore will certainly affect innocents.

      On the other hand, courts don't give you six strikes, either. =)

      --
      -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
    13. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry. Not all of us are willing to do the bidding of the people who own the wires. We're going wireless, and the FCC and the government can suck ball sweat.

    14. Re:Make up your damn mind! by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Now consider the nature of six strike or three strike. Download copyrighted material, WTF, pretty much the whole of the internet is copyrighted, when I create a web page it is copyrighted. The person distributing the content is responsible for issues of copyright, stories, images, sound, video and games. How can I the end user ensure far more than a billion web pages are copyright correct.

      This is starting to smell like the RIAA/MPAA US Mafia is trying to steal everyone else's copyrighted content and claim it is free public domain by claiming that according to law it has no copyright protection, it doesn't count against there customised six strikes law. The privacy invasive, personal service monitoring law. The reason they are having trouble with it, is because it is criminal intent upon two, first search without warrant and of course the copyright law by implicitly denying all non RIAA/MPAA content the protection of copyright by making the claim that the work is not copyrighted.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    15. Re:Make up your damn mind! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, paying to pirate.

  5. Too Late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Already switched to a local ISP -- the moment people realize some have it and others don't they will flock to non implementing parties. It's only those without a choice getting screwed.

    1. Re:Too Late by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Already switched to a local ISP

      That's great if you're one of the rare few who have that option for broadband. I have exactly two options for broadband in my community: a big telco and a big cableco (both of whom will certainly be participating in any MPAA/RIAA scheme). If you count 3G as broadband, you could add a couple of more options to that--but with such small bandwidth caps on those, no one is going to be using them for much pirating anyway.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    2. Re:Too Late by lightknight · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Which reminds me. Has anyone else noticed the price for fiber optic cables (outdoor) are extremely low these days? They can carry a signal for a mile without a repeater.

      Over the hill, and through the woods...

      --
      I am John Hurt.
    3. Re:Too Late by 0racle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You are giving the general population far too much credit. They won't care.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    4. Re:Too Late by ProfessionalCookie · · Score: 1

      Where do you see low prices on Fiber? Does it get down to the price of Cat5e?

    5. Re:Too Late by lightknight · · Score: 1

      It does.

      --
      I am John Hurt.
  6. CCI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's good to know that this will be handled by an impartial organization...

    1. Re:CCI by lightknight · · Score: 1

      Made up of people whose objectivity can be measured by the number of fraudulent lawsuits they've filed, then quickly withdrawn.

      DoJ, get off your fat ass, and spank these guys!

      --
      I am John Hurt.
    2. Re:CCI by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      Made up of people whose objectivity can be measured by the number of fraudulent lawsuits they've filed, then quickly withdrawn.

      DoJ, get off your fat ass, and spank these guys!

      It's the man who does the spanking in this relationship, not the bitch.

    3. Re:CCI by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      you still have faith in this DOJ???

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    4. Re:CCI by lightknight · · Score: 1

      I light a candle for them, that they might suddenly come to their senses and say "Look, we've all been accepting bribes for years, and at first, we didn't think it was hurting anyone; but now, now we can hear our friends screaming out in the streets, and while we cannot go back in time and undo our apathy, we can prevent things from getting worse."

      --
      I am John Hurt.
  7. I do not think that word means what you think... by Taibhsear · · Score: 4, Informative

    We do not intend to launch until we are confident that the program is consumer friendly.

    It is, inherently, not consumer friendly.

  8. Well, you know what I think? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment has been edited to fit with Comcast's Anonymous-Posting Policy found in our ToS.

    Thank you for using Comcast, anonymous poster!

  9. Hollywood accounting is stealing by Dan667 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is a much much bigger problem and steals directly from Artists and Musicians as well as US Taxpayers. When does it get some attention?

    1. Re:Hollywood accounting is stealing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      when the people that realize that start paying for congress and the senate's re-election.

      When you actually buy the MPAA/RIAA's crap you are paying for them to lobby the other way, which a majority of people do...

    2. Re:Hollywood accounting is stealing by royallthefourth · · Score: 2

      When the people who work in Hollywood stand up and demand that they stop getting screwed over. If they won't first stand up for themselves, there's no way for anyone else to stand alongside them.

  10. Walk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everytime the mpaa or riaa issue 8 wrong dmca, the issued service (youtube, facebook, megavideo, ...) get a free pass for life. If the sue someone wrongly (hbp) he gets free pass for life too.

  11. Just as long as they don't monitor by Overzeetop · · Score: 3, Interesting

    usenet. Keep ports 119 and 563 out of their meddling hands and I'll remain a happy camper.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    1. Re:Just as long as they don't monitor by LanMan04 · · Score: 1

      Get a provider that supports SSL. Then you can claim you downloaded 350GB of Linux distros last month!

      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
    2. Re:Just as long as they don't monitor by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2, Funny

      Get a provider that supports SSL. Then you can claim you downloaded 350GB of Linux distros last month!

      What, you mean you didn't?

      Luddite.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    3. Re:Just as long as they don't monitor by Dins · · Score: 1

      I'm with ya. But there have been a recent rash of DMCA takedowns, so somebody somewhere has finally caught on...

    4. Re:Just as long as they don't monitor by Jerry+Rivers · · Score: 1

      I'm with ya. But there have been a recent rash of DMCA takedowns, so somebody somewhere has finally caught on...

      How do you "take down" something that has been propagated to servers all over the world?

      --
      The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
    5. Re:Just as long as they don't monitor by Dins · · Score: 1

      They send takedown notices to the major usenet providers which then remove the posts from their servers. Yes the posts propagate, but if you want any sort of article retention time and completeness you subscribe to one of a handful of major providers. If those major providers nuke the posts from their servers, you're generally SOL. ...or so I have read...

    6. Re:Just as long as they don't monitor by jchawk · · Score: 1

      Dude!

      The first rule of usenet is you do not talk about usenet!

    7. Re:Just as long as they don't monitor by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      then why are you?

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  12. Anyone else by whythefucknot · · Score: 1

    spend the first sentence wondering why on earth they called this thing "Shortly"?

    1. Re:Anyone else by cvtan · · Score: 1

      That's Shirley.

      --
      Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
  13. Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the EU by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Too bad this violates the Data Treaties that the US signed with both the EU and Canada over Data Privacy and Copyright.

    Canadian citizens have a stronger right to use material, as was ruled yesterday, and since the US Senate affirmed both International Treaties, it is bound to respect their rights, as treaties override any national laws or actions, as our US Constitution specifies.

    But, hey, nice fake out, greed heads.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  14. What bothers me by TaggartAleslayer · · Score: 2

    What bothers me about measures like this is how broad and intimidating they can be to the average user.

    I see measures like this as nothing more than an intimidation tactic to force users into corporate marketplaces for everything. "I'm not sure if this download is going to get me a strike, so I better go pay for it on Amazon/iTunes/Google." This line of thinking is just going to cost the industry more in the long run. You don't piss off the masses with overbearing rules. The "let them eat cake" mentality is ultimately very self destructive.

  15. Blah by Greyfox · · Score: 1

    I hate having to explain to my friends and family why they should install and use TOR for all their internet activities. Shit, most of them have no idea about IP law at all and assume that if they can find it on the Internet it must be OK to download it.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Blah by lightknight · · Score: 1

      And, just out of curiosity, how many of them have ever considered voting third-party?

      --
      I am John Hurt.
    2. Re:Blah by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      IP law is really quite strait forward - an IP looks like 123.45.67.8 and does not identify any particular person. Think of it as the phone number corresponding to a domain name. DNS is the phone book. Several addresses may share a phone number, or several phone numbers may all terminate at the same address. People can share phones or addresses, or have more than one of both.

      Your friends and family should be capable of grasping that.

      Whoosh is available as a no-cost option.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    3. Re:Blah by Greyfox · · Score: 1
      Far too few of them. Third parties seem to be making progress in state and local governments though, so perhaps they will eventually percolate up. You don't change an entire culture overnight.

      I've thought several times that my state needs a Pirate Party, but it's kind of a one-trick (or one-platform) pony. A middle-of-the-road moderate party with IP law reform flavor might do well, picking up moderates from both main parties who have been disenfranchised, but IP reform still isn't sexy enough to be a main platform. If you go "Corporations aren't People AND IP Reform," you're not likely to get many big name donors, and you kind of need big wads of cash when party building.

      Best I can hope for is that the constant leash-tightening ends up enraging the public to the point where IP reform becomes something you can run on. In the mean time I'll just have to keep telling my friends and family to use TOR.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    4. Re:Blah by Hatta · · Score: 1

      You probably shouldn't be using TOR for *ALL* your internet activities. After all, everything that goes through Tor comes out in plain text at an exit node that could be run by anyone.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    5. Re:Blah by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      and it goes in plain-text through every other pipe with bigger interest in spying on you. just think who is more likly to spy ge/comcast/msnbc/universal who makes the copyrighted material or privacy advocate that does not know who or where you are, that for all he knows you could be in lawless somilia or copyright ignoring communist china. Besides it is not necessarily plain text, if you are communicating over https it is encrypted. in fact the newer tor browser bundles comes with https everywhere which automagicly redirects you to the encrypted version of sites when available.

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
    6. Re:Blah by iamnobody2 · · Score: 1

      thats not IP law at all, IP law is intellectual property laws

      --
      nobody's perfect
  16. Respect for Privacy: The new ISP differentiator by jcadam · · Score: 3, Informative

    Oh cool, I was beginning to view internet access as a commodity, with no real difference between ISPs... Now I have something to use as a discriminator when selecting a new provider.

    So.... AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon just managed to remove themselves from ever being considered by me again (and no, I don't ever knowingly download copyrighted material without paying for it).

    Something tells me the mom&pop ISP down the road doesn't have the time/staff/inclination to bother with this kind of crap.

    --
    P.S.: Internet business idea #3,633,235: Privacy-focused ISP.

    1. Re:Respect for Privacy: The new ISP differentiator by lightknight · · Score: 1

      And I was thinking that the triumvirate of money, stupidity, and law had decided to give it a miss after the ACTA / PIPA / SOPA debacle.

      Still, it's nice to know that I have choices. Not ISPs, they seem eager to place themselves into the cross-hairs of 'not a common carrier' (good luck with that), but choices of which countries I live in. I swear, it's like that scene in the Simpsons where Principal Skinner is explaining to Lisa why they've been having so much 'magazine time.'

      --
      I am John Hurt.
  17. VPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just pay for VPN service so not even your ISP knows what your transferring

    1. Re:VPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And hope the VPN isn't a honeypot.

    2. Re:VPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How can you find a safe VPN? You have no way to know who is watching and reporting what it is doing. The ISP logs show you are talking to the VPN, the VPN shows what you are doing. You are just paying extra for no benefit, the feds will still get ya.

    3. Re:VPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They will just outlaw VPNs for anything but business or require licensing fees so exohrbitant that no one would consider paying for them except the lawyers.

  18. Almost all content downloaded has copyrights by Vainglorious+Coward · · Score: 1

    allow your ISP to give you gradually sterner warnings and possible punishment if you download copyrighted material

    Sloppy stuff from DailyDot : we would probably all blow through our six chances on the very first web page we visit, since just about everything that is downloaded has copyrights. The distinction between authorised and infringing use of copyrighted material, which appears to have whooshed the article author, is likely the reason this scheme is having trouble getting off the ground.

    --
    My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
    1. Re:Almost all content downloaded has copyrights by Shagg · · Score: 1

      we would probably all blow through our six chances on the very first web page we visit, since just about everything that is downloaded has copyrights.

      True, and in most cases it is also virtually impossible for the average user to tell whether it's authorized or not.

      --
      Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
    2. Re:Almost all content downloaded has copyrights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why the ISPs will hire a crack team of thousands of lawyers to scrutinize each item of copyrighted material requested from a web page or via other protocols, and then query the user to find out the intended use, in order to properly consider exceptions such as fair use, or that the user is already licensed for the material. As long as they have enough lawyers doing this in parallel, it shouldn't slow down network performance too many orders of magnitude.

      Or they could just do it on the cheap and not give a flying #!%!% about false positives or other inaccuracies.

  19. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by American+Patent+Guy · · Score: 1

    Maybe so, but do you think Joe user is going to sue the big boys for cutting off his service? And if Joe wins, what do you think the damages will be? Restoration of service and some lawyer's fees? And what IP lawyer do you think will take on such a case?

  20. Opposite Effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't pirate anything. I run Linux for my desktop and I have legal access to all of the TV and music I need.

    However, this makes me *want* to pirate. It makes me want to test the efficacy of their detection. Will it work with encrypted torrent traffic? Nntp? IRC? Freenet?

  21. Sue the ISPs by DL117 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm not a lawyer, however, I believe this could a breach of contract law. If the ISPs are making an agreement with third parties for conditions to terminate an agreement with their users, that could be considered acting in bad faith towards the consumers.

    1. Re:Sue the ISPs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The contract they signed with the consumer would have had a "we can alter this contract at any time for any reason" clause.

    2. Re:Sue the ISPs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not if they wave the magical Terms of Service wand, emended as necessary with the "pray I don't alter it further" clause that's already in there.

  22. Re:I do not think that word means what you think.. by lightknight · · Score: 0

    Exactly.

    --
    I am John Hurt.
  23. And how are these 'warnings' sent? by tekrat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If I know any of those major ISPs, they'll be emailing you at the @comcast or @verizon email address that they assume you're monitoring, because they gave you that email address when they became your ISP.

    They aren't going to assume that you've been using the same email address for decades, long before you signed up for their broadband, and that's the email address you monitor.

    I can see it now, they shut you off claiming you haven't responded to any of their emails -- meanwhile you're unaware that a mailbox you've never checked in your life is where those emails are....

    I very likely have a Verizon mailbox, but damn if I know what it is. Or how to access it. My email comes to me through a mom&pop ISP where I have my webserver, not through my broadband provider.

    And I'm sure I'm not alone in this -- how many people have a Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail account as their primary email address?

    --
    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    1. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've got business class paid for by my company. I definitely don't have that email address.

    2. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by Comen · · Score: 1

      I do not see it in this artical, but from previous articles on this subject it made it sound like this process if different and instead of a email being sent you would get a browser pop up that would tell you the site you are going to, or the file being downloaded is copyrighted and illegal to download. Not sure how that would work for things like torrents, but I would asume you would get a notice when you go to the site that lists the torrent to download.

    3. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by Comen · · Score: 3, Informative

      From this link http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/07/ispplan.pdf

      Subsequent alerts may include notifications in the form of pop-ups or redirection
      to a special page displaying the alert. Failure to respond to these alerts will lead
      to additional steps designed to ensure that the account comes into compliance.
      These steps, referred to as “Mitigation Measures,” might include, for example:
      temporary reductions of Internet speeds, redirection to a landing page until the
      subscriber contacts the ISP to discuss the matter or reviews and responds to some
      educational information about copyright, or other measures that the ISP may
      deem necessary to help resolve the matter. These steps will only be taken after
      multiple alerts and a failure by the subscriber to respond. This system consists of
      at least five alerts.

    4. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by Silentknyght · · Score: 1

      From this link http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/07/ispplan.pdf

      Subsequent alerts may include notifications in the form of pop-ups or redirection
      to a special page displaying the alert. Failure to respond to these alerts will lead
      to additional steps designed to ensure that the account comes into compliance.
      These steps, referred to as “Mitigation Measures,” might include, for example:
      temporary reductions of Internet speeds, redirection to a landing page until the
      subscriber contacts the ISP to discuss the matter or reviews and responds to some
      educational information about copyright, or other measures that the ISP may
      deem necessary to help resolve the matter. These steps will only be taken after
      multiple alerts and a failure by the subscriber to respond. This system consists of
      at least five alerts.

      I don't see how that's going to work at all. Wouldn't most modern browsers block popups, especially those not at all affiliated with the target site? Wouldn't most third-party DNS providers warn you of a redirection as some kind of hostile activity? Wouldn't a NoScript (or similar) browser also defeat some/all of these "notification" methods?

    5. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure Hollywood will happily pay the ISPs for US postage, not to mention an official looking seal and legal sounding threats.

    6. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by TheSpoom · · Score: 1

      Yep. If my ISP wants to contact me, they've got my mailing address and phone number. If they don't use one of those two, it can't be that important.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
    7. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by Kjella · · Score: 1

      I don't see how that's going to work at all. Wouldn't most modern browsers block popups, especially those not at all affiliated with the target site? Wouldn't most third-party DNS providers warn you of a redirection as some kind of hostile activity? Wouldn't a NoScript (or similar) browser also defeat some/all of these "notification" methods?

      Worst case they could simply /dev/null everything but plain HTTP and redirect that to a "please contact us" page that you have to click through to get your connection back, not unlike how many wifi services makes you sign in / agree to a ToS before letting you proceed. I've never heard of anyone using that on a regular broadband connection before though, but should be fairly straightforward. Hmm, I wonder if this could be patentable - I'd love to throw a little monkey wrench in that system.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    8. Re:And how are these 'warnings' sent? by sjames · · Score: 1

      reviews and responds to some educational information about copyright,

      "Relax" said the night man, "We are programmed to receive" ...You can check out any time you like, but you can NEVER leave!

  24. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like so many other things, it's real until it gets to court and a judge rules it's illegal/unenforceable. Nobody gets thrown in jail for this kind of extortion, but some poor suckers have to go through hell to get it fixed.

  25. Guardians of the Internets by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised the MPAA and RIAA did not dress this up as "Consumer Relief Access Protection".

    1. Re:Guardians of the Internets by murphtall · · Score: 1

      Wish I had mod points. This is hilarious. +1funny

  26. Bluffing by pwizard2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder how much of this is bluffing. There's no way they can watch everyone all the time. Even if they could, it would cost too much to do it indefinitely and if it cuts into profits too much (especially for another company that is giving little or nothing to them) I'm guessing the ISPS will only make a half-assed attempt to carry this out.

    Are they seriously going to monitor every single FTP transaction or every Torrent swarm that passes through their infrastructure? Many people just go in, leech, and get out of the swarm as soon as they have all the pieces which leaves only a small window of time to catch them.

    --
    "It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity."
    1. Re:Bluffing by WrecklessSandwich · · Score: 1

      I suppose they could outsource it to the NSA, they seem up for the job.

    2. Re:Bluffing by Shagg · · Score: 2

      No, the ISPs are just going to send out "strikes" to whoever the RIAA/MPAA tells them to.

      --
      Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
    3. Re:Bluffing by Kjella · · Score: 1

      No, your ISP is not going to monitor anything. But you know all these IP addresses the MAFIAA has been collecting? Well now instead of threatening with harmless C&D letters or trying to sue 10,000 people at once through the courts those will now go as "strikes" directly from the MAFIAA to your ISP. Get enough strikes and you will be harassed and in worst case disconnected by your ISP. They haven't hired on the ISPs to spy on you, but as their private vigilante justice system. Instead of having to deal with courts and their rules and rights, it'll now go straight from the MAFIAA to the ISPs to punishing you without legal interference. Welcome to the corporate justice system, by the corporations, for the corporations so please get in line for your Internet Death Penalty right after your fair hearing.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  27. Enforcement by h4x0t · · Score: 2

    When every user on using your service has 5 strikes in a week... enforcement of this will drop off really fast.

    I will certainly be wardrivetorrenting when this drops.

    1. Re:Enforcement by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      I wish that were true but in actuality the ISPs will be happy to kick those people and here is why:

      The ISPs have their ideal of a perfect customer and those that actually use what they pay for? NOT part of that ideal. What the want is soccer moms, those that check their webmail, maybe watch some LOLCats vids, and generally don't even use a tenth of what they pay for. Because you see those types of customers allow them to stuff more profits into their pockets by oversubscibing, whereas those that actually expect to use what they pay for might ZOMFG!, cause them to actually have to lay lines and upgrade their systems! not good for profits that .

      So sadly the major ISPs will be all over this, it lets them cut anybody that uses more than your average housewife so they can keep on oversubscribing and gouging without worry of network slowdowns. they'll end up making deals with netflix to get a cut and put NF servers near the local customers so they don't have to spend shit on peering and then just kick back and enjoy the money.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  28. What Kind of People Do They Think Pirate? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    six strikes system says: 'We do not intend to launch until we are confident that the program is consumer friendly.

    The only people I know of that would enjoy this are usually called, "Cutters."

  29. Re:several news outlets — including CNN by ganjadude · · Score: 1

    no, that would be MSNBC, fox = right msnbc = left, cnn tries to be impartial compared to the other 2

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  30. Downloading? by _8553454222834292266 · · Score: 2

    Why does every article say they're going to get you for "downloading" copyrighted material. Since when can they get you in the US for downloading copyrighted material? I thought the only issue was with distributing/seeding it.

    1. Re:Downloading? by Zimluura · · Score: 2

      Exactly! I just downloaded your post (which is copyrighted automatically in the US), in order to read it, so presumably you can file a complaint with my ISP and that'll be strike 1 against me. Hmmm, in hindsight I should have posted anonymously. Perhaps I could send the RIAA an email and then sue them for opening it. If DOWNloading copyrighted material is illegal, then the internet as a whole is illegal.

  31. Consumer friendly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Punishing consumers for consuming will never be consumer-friendly.

  32. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Maybe so, but do you think Joe user is going to sue the big boys for cutting off his service? And if Joe wins, what do you think the damages will be? Restoration of service and some lawyer's fees? And what IP lawyer do you think will take on such a case?

    A Canadian or EU one working pro bono, is my guess. Most likely a class action case.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  33. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by __aajgon4133 · · Score: 1

    Too bad this violates the Data Treaties that the US signed with both the EU and Canada over Data Privacy and Copyright.

    This is interesting. Does anyone know the names of these treaties?

  34. CNN Strikes again by saveferrousoxide · · Score: 1
  35. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Too bad this violates the Data Treaties that the US signed with both the EU and Canada over Data Privacy and Copyright.

    This is interesting. Does anyone know the names of these treaties?

    I'll give you a hint. They have the word Data in them.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  36. Re:several news outlets — including CNN by Isaac+Remuant · · Score: 1

    Doesn't really matter when they manufacture information and misdirect almost as much as the other two. IMHO, You'll easily notice it if you don't live in USA.

    --
    "Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. " - Asimov.
  37. How will this work? by oxdas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How can any ISP determine whether or not I have received the rights to any given copyrighted item? What if the items I am downloading are fair use productions using copyrighted material? Nobody really knows what fair use is and is not (it is very subjective), how can you write an algorithm to detect it? I just don't understand how this is technologically possible.

    Courts have already ruled that you can sue for DMCA requests that don't consider fair use. It doesn't seem a stretch to apply that to "strikes" as well (and strikes are probably easier to demonstrate harm). The ISP's are going to have to tread very carefully to avoid class action lawsuits.

    1. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your ISP isn't going to do anything other than look up who had the IP address the Content Cartel found connected to a torrent they were monitoring. Then they will send that account a Strike notice.

    2. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You probably already agreed not to participate in any class action or civil action against them. Check your contract.

    3. Re:How will this work? by oxdas · · Score: 1

      My ISP, Comcast, does have a no class action clause, but the courts invalidated the clause in 2007 and a class action lawsuit was allowed to proceed against them.

    4. Re:How will this work? by oxdas · · Score: 1

      Upon further consideration, after the 2011 Supreme Court ruling, this provision may have more teeth. Either way, it is still a gamble for the companies and it seems highly unlikely any ISP or content provider would win in court with no system in place to review fair use.

  38. Cox by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 2

    for all their foibles (slow playing DOCSIS 3 in smaller markets; IPv6 will be as slow in arriving), they frequently are far less dickish than the other US ISPs. Not like I have an alternative even if they were, though (yay, monopoly and ~$160 monthly bills).

  39. To who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DMCA takedowns of who/what?

  40. The polls are in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just conducted a quick poll from the 3 cats in my room.
    They all prefer the more consumer friendly law of 9 strikes and you're out.

  41. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by __aajgon4133 · · Score: 1

    Too bad this violates the Data Treaties that the US signed with both the EU and Canada over Data Privacy and Copyright.

    This is interesting. Does anyone know the names of these treaties?

    I'll give you a hint. They have the word Data in them.

    Yeah, data is kind of a common word on the Internet. :-) Do you know what year they were ratified or when the enabling legislation might have been passed? I'm just curious to read them.

  42. Re:several news outlets — including CNN by Lucky75 · · Score: 1

    CNN is just incompetent, not partisan.

    --
    DNA -- National Dyslexic Association
  43. Safety is important for auto autos. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 0
    Autonomous automobiles pose a huge safety threat. To ensure public safety the following laws should be enacted:

    1. A man carrying a flag must walk in front of the car to warn others.

    2. The flag man should not alarm or panic the horses.

    3. On approaching the intersection, the car should stop, the flag man should check for traffic and signal the auto to proceed.

    Hundreds of such laws are possible and each city and village should create its own set.

    The speed limit of 5 mph in the city of Bent Fork, Tennessee, should be adopted nationwide for the autonomous autos.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  44. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by oxdas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A woman sued Universal for issuing a DMCA takedown request to Youtube for a video of her baby dancing to Prince (see, Lenz v Universal). The EFF took on the case and she has won nearly every argument so far (The case started in 2007 and has a summary judgment hearing scheduled for October 2012). So, yes, I think someone will sue. The bigger question is could it be turned into a class action suit. If they win a test case, then lawyers will be salivating at the deep pockets involved.

  45. WiFi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'll be feeling bad for my neighbors if this ever actually happens...

  46. 3ncrYpted Onion routers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just fully encrypt and use TOR networks.

    All of your copyrights R Us

  47. "...if you download copyrighted material." by John+Hasler · · Score: 2

    So that limits us to Project Gutenberg. Everything else is "copyrighted", and every time you "visit" A Web site you "download material".

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  48. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    I don't remember the full names. The short titles were something like the US/EU Data Privacy Treaty and the US/Canada Data Privacy Treaty, but they tend to have long and confusing names officially.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  49. Private Regulation Without Accountability by Adrian+Lopez · · Score: 1

    The six strikes system is officially helmed by an industry coalition called the Center for Copyright Information (CCI)...

    CCI being the product of an agreement between the media cartels and major ISPs, under pressure from the Obama Administration (otherwise, why would ISPs agree to a plan that could cost them a bunch of customers). Unlike regulatory bodies established through real legislation, CCI is answerable to neither the courts nor the public. Even if the rules were "consumer friendly" today, who's to say they'll be fair tomorrow? Rather frightening when you think about it.

    --
    "In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
  50. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    treaties override any national laws or actions, as our US Constitution specifies.

    Except that you're wrong on that. You're probably thinking of the oft-misinterpreted Article VI, paragraph 2:

    "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land"

    People often leave out the middle part and read it as:

    "This Constitution... and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land"

    Read like that, it appears to mean that treaties are on an equal footing with the Constitution. This is false. If you include the middle part you can summarize it as, "The constitution, laws, and treaties are supreme." In other words, it's just saying that the US is governed by the rule of law, which goes without saying.

    Note that it does not indicate anywhere in this clause which laws are the most important, although later it does say that the Constitution trumps all other law. But nowhere does it say that treaties override national law. I can't believe you got a +5 on this patently incorrect post.

  51. Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All the more reason to run PeerBlock. I don't torrent without some kind of blacklist - the more, the better.

  52. By loose definition, we all break that daily... by MrSenile · · Score: 1

    Those company symbols? That exist on corporate web sites that they say no duplication?

    Well, our browser caches duplicate that, hell, even going to the site duplicates it upon your screen. How many people print pages of their web sites for reasons?

    So everyone, unplug your internet. Once this thing passes, just going to a web site will break copyright law, by loose definition.

    Someone needs to set fire to the RIAA and MPAA buildings.

    1. Re:By loose definition, we all break that daily... by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      > Once this thing passes...

      "Passes"? Do you labor under the delusion that this is legislation? It's just a private, voluntary agreement among some businesses.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    2. Re:By loose definition, we all break that daily... by MrSenile · · Score: 1

      And you don't think the RIAA and MPAA will be using this to get around the legislation that judged that IPs are not indicative of people?

      I meant exactly as I said it.

  53. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Strange, it's almost as tho you're saying that as an AC when I'm saying the exact opposite while logged in.

    Tell you what, let's flip a coin to figure out who gets to pretend to be a constitutional or international treaty scholar today, shall we?

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  54. Re:I do not think that word means what you think.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, it means the ISPs have "Made a deal that will keep the MPAA/RIAA Empire out of the Interwebs forever."

  55. Re:several news outlets — including CNN by Hatta · · Score: 1

    Don't be silly. ALL the network news stations are state-corporatist propaganda.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  56. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't need to be a scholar to be able to read.

  57. you still have faith in this DOJ???

    Parts of the DOJ are very highly respected. The SG's office (which I think is technically part of Justice) and the Civil Right's Division, for example. And even in the slightly less-highly-respected parts, there are some very highly respected and incredibly nice people.

    There are also at least some assholes and even some incompetents, but the asshole bit is kind of a natural consequence of how the US criminal justice system works. The assholes generally mean well, but they are too quick to trample on the rights of an accused criminal. This is less of a problem on the federal level, however, than it is locally.

    --
    -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
  58. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Strange, it's almost as tho you're saying that as an AC when I'm saying the exact opposite while logged in.

    Why are you pretending that login status in any way affects who is right and who is wrong?

    The only possible answer, of course, is that you've had the uncomfortable realization that the facts are against you, and so you are desperately clutching at the "you're posting AC" straw in a futile effort to save face by changing the subject.

  59. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by kevmeister · · Score: 1

    I keep hearing this, but it is clearly not the case.

    From Article 6: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."

    National laws (the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof) have equal standing with treaties. Why so many have don't seem to read this.

    (And, no, no other article or amendment deals with this issue in any way.) Perhaps some SCOTUS ruling I missed studying (IANAL) found some other way to interpret Article VI, but national laws are mentioned first, so I would expect a conflict to fall to laws over treaties.

    --
    Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer, Retired
  60. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    No, you just bore me.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  61. Re:Violates the Data Treaties with Canada and the by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Read the section about treaties and the judicial rulings from SCOTUS and you'll see that later sections do, in fact, override other sections.

    Think of it as a software program where the inherited classes get overwritten by methods. Some are child methods, some replace and supercede parent methods.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  62. Yikes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    will allow your ISP to give you gradually sterner warnings and possible punishment if you download copyrighted material

    Yikes, that's awful.

    Or maybe the submitter meant to say "copyright-infringing material".

    GPL-licensed material is copyrighted. In fact, copyright is the mechanism used to enforce the provisions of the GPL license.

  63. right to trial by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    why can't I have a right to confront my accusers in a court of law before sentencing occurs?

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  64. Experian, Choicepoint or Trans-Union by hwstar · · Score: 1

    What's stopping the credit reporting agencies from getting in to this as a business opportunity?

    Say I get disconnected because of infringement from AT&T and sign up for service with Cox. How tould Cox know I was an infringer?

    I can see it now... Order up a copy of your "infringement report" for $25 from Choicepoint, Experian, or Trans-union, and fly-by-night outfit offering to clear your record for an up-front fee.

    Ah, the American way....

  65. Re:several news outlets — including CNN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    CNN tries, but typically fails.

  66. Potentially overlapping times by Cyphase · · Score: 1

    "... with each of the ISPs launching at potentially overlapping but different times."

    Potentially overlapping? Does that mean some ISPs are only going to be running the system for a limited time, possibly ending it before others start? Or are the "launch windows" potentially overlapping? Or was that just spokes-babble?

    --
    by Cyphase ( 907627 )
  67. "sites that don't want me to download anything" by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 1

    Naw, you have it right - every not counting weasely TOS tricks, every post on the internet and *every graphic file* are copyrighted. So it really is a scary double standard that is going to get very dangerous very quick when someone with a big pocket makes precisely the point that you do and audits the **AA to find them in violation of the copyright on "small works" (such as these forum posts.)

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  68. Not Charter by nobaloney · · Score: 1

    It counts the U.S.'s five top ISPs under its umbrella: AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon."

    I knew there was a reason I'm still with Charter.

  69. VPNs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its okay, most advanced users have signed up for an anonymous VPN tunnels that go though other countries. All they have done is pushed the darknet lower and darker.