Rumor has it that those evil Internet service providers will start using the Copyright Alert System six-strike anti-piracy policy today. The companies kicking it off are AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon. The six strike part of the equation is easy enough to understand; your ISP will give you six warnings about downloading or sharing copyrighted material before punishing you. The consequences vary from provider to provider. They include bandwidth throttling, cutting off access to certain web sites, and temporary suspension of service.
There are some interesting pitfalls and…more
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Rumor has it that those evil Internet service providers will start using the Copyright Alert System six-strike anti-piracy policy today. The companies kicking it off are AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon. The six strike part of the equation is easy enough to understand; your ISP will give you six warnings about downloading or sharing copyrighted material before punishing you. The consequences vary from provider to provider. They include bandwidth throttling, cutting off access to certain web sites, and temporary suspension of service.
There are some interesting pitfalls and potential loopholes. How will ISPs handle offenses detected in shared environments? If you’re getting heat at home, will you be able torrent at a coffeeshop or shared office space? Will virtual private networks (VPNs) see a surge in business from downloaders that want to mask their activity? Implementing the six-strike rule is going to be a nightmare and I hope every major ISP in America suffers. Those companies deserve an expensive venture for reaping huge profits and not spending the money on infrastructure. They’re inhibiting technology and limiting consumers.
More importantly, how are you going to deal with the six-strike world? Are you going to quit torrents? Are you going to purchase a VPN subscription? Or will you throw caution to the wind and deal with the consequences as they come?