A partnership
announced today between big entertainment companies and some of the nation's largest
Internet service providers will not mean the end of online piracy. To be
sure, the parties involved know this.
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, helped
broker the deal between ISPs and big entertainment companies. Cuomo said
a partnership was good for the state and country.
(Credit:
New York State Executive Chamber )
The most savvy tech users and dedicated file sharers will continue to
pirate content and perhaps there isn't any way to stop them. But the
hope of Hollywood film studios and the four largest record companies is
that the participating ISPs, which include Comcast, Cablevision,
Verizon, and Time Warner Cable, can help discourage mainstream Internet
users from sharing content illegally over the Web.
The participating ISPs have agreed to start cracking down on accused
content pirates starting sometime next year. The program will begin with
warnings to those accused by content creators of copyright
infringement. Those who refuse to quit risk losing access to the Web
until they do.
The thinking is that maybe the ISPs can help tip the scales in favor of
legal services. Maybe a $7.99-a-month Netflix subscription or a 99-cent
charge for an iTunes' song becomes more attractive if the cost of piracy
is a slower Web connection or the complete loss of Web access. But the ISPs came to this agreement,
first reported by CNET last month, kicking and screaming.
For the past three years, many of the big ISPs have declined to adopt
"graduated response" programs. That's the term coined by big media to
describe when ISPs ratchet up pressure on people suspected of acquiring
intellectual property without paying for it.
The respective trade groups for the top music and film companies, the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture
Association of America, naturally wanted the toughest penalties they
could get. Originally they had asked that the ISPs adopt a
"three-strikes" plan, which would would mean a user received three
warnings from a bandwidth provider before service was suspended or
terminated. The ISPs said no way.
[color:6b96=#900]
(The ISPs') first loyalty should be to their subscribers. Not Hollywood."
--Corynne McSherry, EFF attorney
In the end, the ISPs held their noses and began looking for ways to
cover themselves against PR hits. Instead of three strikes, the ISPs
opted for six strikes. They also padded the program with so-called
educational aspects, likely tossed in to help distract from the more
controversial issues, such as suspending someone's Internet access.
Still, there's no way to cover up the fact that participating ISPs have
agreed to punish customers on behalf of content creators.
Those ISPs that have partnered with the music and film sectors have the
option of issuing six warnings to a subscriber before moving to the
"mitigation" stage. Way down in the press release announcing the
agreement is the bit about how the ISPs will hobble the connection
speeds of those accused of multiple offenses or completely cut off their
Web connection until they stop infringing intellectual property.
The ISPs dread spooking subscribers, or to appear to be spying on them.
It's possible the agreement would have never been completed had U.S.
President Barack Obama and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who got involved
in the negotiations as early as 2007, not pressured both sides to cut a
deal.
Cuomo, who was then New York's attorney general, got involved because he
believed that it was good for the state for two of the leading
industries to get along and help each other, Steve Cohen, Cuomo's chief
of staff, told CNET today. Up until that point, the film and music
sectors were in attack mode, accusing bandwidth providers of profiting
from piracy. Cuomo recognized that a deal that benefited both sides
could be reached without lawsuits or any serious government
intervention, Cohen said.
Cuomo, like Obama, argues that piracy robs U.S. citizens of jobs and the nation's companies of revenue.
But not everyone believes that file sharing has hurt those who create
content. Corynne McSherry, an attorney and director of intellectual
property issues for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that
advocates for Internet users and tech companies, notes that scores of
musicians have adapted to digital technology and are doing fine.
She argues that the new agreement creates more problems than it solves.
Among her criticisms of the graduated response process are that
someone's Internet access can be cut off without any judicial review.
She noted that the ISPs and entertainment companies have said they will
create an independent review process for those who claim to be wrongly
accused. McSherry, however, is skeptical that anyone hired by those
groups will be conflict-free. Among McSherry's greatest fears is that this is only the first step. She
sees the potential, now that big media firms have the ability to push
ISPs into copyright enforcement, that they will continue to pressure
them to keep ratcheting up the penalties against suspected file sharers.
Is McSherry sympathetic to the ISPs who have faced government pressure to do more on antipiracy? Not so much.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that the ISPs are under
tremendous pressure and that's why they're knuckling under," McSherry
said. "But their first loyalty should be to their subscribers. Not
Hollywood.
"At the end of the day," McSherry said, "this is unlikely to accomplish
much. All it will do is intimidate a lot of lawful users. Are we going
to see the end of online infringement? I doubt that very much. It will
be more valuable for the White House, ISPs and Hollywood if they found
better ways to getting artists paid instead of focusing on punishment."
Subject: USA ISP Piracy Warnings: What You Need to Know 
Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:45 am