Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Copyright Infringement and Six Strikes

A couple months ago, a copyright protection system enforced by internet service providers (ISPs) in the United States went in to effect. The Copyright Alert System, more popularly known as the six strikes policy, intends to reduce and block the downloading of copyrighted material primarily on peer to peer networks.

This system was first conceived in late 2011 by a group of content owners and ISPs known as the Center for Copyright Information in an effort to combat piracy. Content owners affiliated with CCI include the Motion Pictures of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Nearly all major ISPs in the United States have agreed to implementing this system including AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon.

So how does this six strikes system work? As its name implies, ISP subscribers who are found to be infringing copyright will receive a series of six warnings. Below is the general process:
  • A content owner finds that an internet user is downloading copyrighted material over a peer-to-peer network.
  • The content owner tracks the infringing user's IP address and from there notifies the ISP that the IP is affiliated with.
  • The ISP sends a warning to the user behind the IP address. No personal details are transmitted to the content owner.
  • If the user ignores the warning and continues to download, repeated warnings with increasing level of severity are issued.
  • After the fifth or sixth warning, the ISP begins to enact "mitigation measures" such as throttling access or even discontinue access completely.
Currently, users who are given a warning may appeal it by paying $35 and submitting the reason for appeal to an "independent review board". However, the impartiality of this review board is under question since it turns out that its reviewers salaries are being funded by content owners.

While content owners claim that six strikes is supposed to be an educational approach to copyright, the system has come under increasing fire from privacy groups and users. A number of issues have been raised on various aspects of the system. One such issue with six strikes is that the whole system was built with lack of input form users and shifts the burden of proof of infringement from the content owners to the users.

Another problem with six strikes is that there is no due process in this system, rather, content owners can be likened to the piracy police with the ISPs acting as judge and jury by punishing those it deems to be pirating. Fair use of copyrighted material for certain uses such as educational user which is legal under US law would not be allowed under six strikes. Such a system also encourages "blanket accusations" where mass notices are sent out to millions of users preemptively to deter piracy.

There are many other arguments for and against this six strikes and it remains to be see how the system will function. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments!

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