Six Strikes Program Against Piracy Goes Into Effect In The US This Week

The six strike copyright monitoring system that was brokered between content holders and ISPs goes into effect this week.  The FAQ for the Center for Copyright Information (CCI) explains how the system works.  Generally, content holders will monitor peer-to-peer networks, identify the content as their own and send the IP address to the appropriate ISP.  The ISP will send a series of messages to the account holder indicating the piracy allegation.  The first two messages are educational.  The next two are acknowledgement alerts that require a response.  The final two are mitigation alerts that impose minor consequences such as a speed slowdown.  Appeals are allowed at $35 a pop.  The CCI does not make money from these appeals as the money goes to the American Arbitration Association, the organization that hears the appeal.

Some commentators expect little change in the downloading habits of those who may be affected by the program.  One reason is that termination of the offending Internet account is not part of the program.  Another is that by limiting the program to BitTorrent and P2P traffic, determined downloaders will move to other sources such as blogs, file lockers, and of course, Usenet.  Many companies providing subscription services to Usenet tend not to log their customer activity.  That detail may put a dent in enforcement should the program start monitoring these sources. And using virtual private network (VPN) or proxy services can hide an IP address.

My biggest concern is how the CCI will handle the inevitable messages sent by scam artists pretending to be ISPs or the CCI.    It is possible that some scammers could conceivably send high quality fraud messages that steal graphics from legitimate sites.  I get these all the time from people pretending to be banks or popular Internet destinations.  One way to tell a legitimate message from a scam is that the ISP/CCI messages should not demand money to mitigate a violation.  Another way is to let the cursor hover over a link in the message (without clicking on it, of course) to reveal the true destination.  Most mail clients and browsers support this feature.  I recommend calling an ISP’s customer service line to verify the messages are accurate for anyone who still isn’t sure.

One other prediction:  watch for the content holders to advocate for a stronger program when their sales or profits do not rise significantly.  Read more in the National Law Journal, Billboard, and my favorite snarky technology news site, The Register.  [MG]