ISPs to take on illegally downloading, politely

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Several Internet service providers (ISPs) are set to take on a graduated approach to combating online piracy starting this summer, according to the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America. It’s a plan that was agreed to in 2011 but there hasn’t been much guidance as to when or how the plan would roll out.

Essentially, it calls for copyright holders to scan the web to detect the specific web addresses of people believed to be trafficking in copyrighted material illegally. That information is then passed along to the ISP, who in turn issues a warning to the customer. “So if you are caught by a copyright owner downloading material from a peer-to-peer file-sharing network that they identify as their material, they are going to send a notice to your Internet service provider,” says Annemarie Bridy from Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy. “Then that ISP is going to turn around and send to you what is called a copyright alert.” That's your first warning, telling you to cut it out with the illegal downloading. Doug Lichtman from UCLA School of Law says the idea is that should end it. “The hope is that just sending this notification will get a lot of people to say you know what, I don't want to be a part of this. I'm happy to pay for content, and do it legitimately,” he says. If that first warning goes unheeded, it escalates into… more emails! “After the first warning, what do you get? A second warning,” says Lichtman. “After the second, what do you get? A third warning. Basically it's communication.”


ISPs to take on illegally downloading, politely