Three-strikes plan shifts financial burden to rightsholders

UK telecom regulator Ofcom detailed the code that Internet service providers (ISPs) and copyright holders must abide by when enforcing the contentious Digital Economy Act -- a law where prolific pirates can face legal action after three warnings.

The act allows copyright owners to send infringement reports to broadband providers BT, Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media. In turn, those ISPs will send letters to their customers whose accounts are connected to the report. If a customer receives three or more letters in a 12-month period, they'll be put on a "Copyright Infringement List." The list is an anonymized document that enables copyright owners to see which of the reports they have made relate to subscribers who have received multiple notifications. In the copyright holder wishes to do so, it can then get a court order to strongarm the ISP into revealing the identity of those customers. Then, legal action can take place. It's designed to put legal pressure on the most prolific infringers.