Internet providers to begin warning customers who pirate content

[RonPaulFanInGA]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/18/tech/web/copyright-alert-system/index.html


It is about to get a bit more difficult to illegally download TV shows, movies or music online.

A new alert system, rolling out over the next two months, will repeatedly warn and possibly punish people violating digital copyrights. The Copyright Alert System was announced last July and has been four years in the making.

If you use AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, or Verizon as your Internet service provider, you could receive the first of one of these notes starting in the next two months.

The Internet provider is delivering the message, but the legwork is being done by the copyright owners, which will monitor peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent.

[dannno]

Pretty sure somebody will figure out a way around it.

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

Pretty sure somebody will figure out a way around it.


VPN would be my guess. I don't download torrents, copyrighted material, etc. Just guessing.

[jbauer]

Couldn't you just use a VPN connection using a random IP in a random country and get around it?

[GunnyFreedom]

Ridiculously easy to circumvent.

Also, while not good, at least it's better than the former model where the notion was you could download a single pirated song and end up liable for like $10,000 and jail. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not defending or justifying this, I'm just saying it's a lot better than their first idea. :p

It's like asking whether I'd rather be shot in the chest or the foot. Well, obviously I'd rather not be shot at all...but between the two the foot is obviously preferable to the chest.

Still, I think the overriding point to take from this is that the system as described is ridiculously easy to circumvent with an anonymizer, an IP hopper and/or TOR proxy bouncing.

[paulbot24]

Proooooooooooxy Server! Use ones in China just to add insult to injury by getting all your pirated American goods from behind the "Great Firewall."

[GunnyFreedom]

(seriously considers setting up a Darwin box channelling every packet of data from all 10 devices in this house through TOR) I don't download copyright stuff either, but I do occasionally use bit torrent, and these things are always the first step to something far more intrusive...

[paulbot24]

(seriously considers setting up a Darwin box channelling every packet of data from all 10 devices in this house through TOR) I don't download copyright stuff either, but I do occasionally use bit torrent, and these things are always the first step to something far more intrusive...

FBI: "It is our understanding that the bit torrent network is sort of like marijuana in that it acts as a gateway to other more serious forms of felonious activities...."

[coastie]

Good thing I don't use any of those "big" companies.;) I don't download copyright stuff either way, but this would be stupid easy to get around, as others have pointed out.

[GunnyFreedom]

FBI: "It is our understanding that the bit torrent network is sort of like marijuana in that it acts as a gateway to other more serious forms of felonious activities...."

LOL FBI has the stupid. Breathing is the gateway to murder, since all murderers breathe. :rolleyes:

[KingNothing]

With how cheap things like Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, etc are becoming, it probably isn't long before pirating content becomes a thing of the past not because of any crackdowns but because of the ease and cost-effectiveness of online streaming.

Generally it has been found that if the user has a relatively cheap and easy way to pay for content he will venture down that path rather than pirating. When these companies refine their delivery systems, pirating will vanish, and I think that as things like Google Fiber and competitors become more prominent, we'll see this take hold.

[KingNothing]

LOL FBI has the stupid. Breathing is the gateway to murder, since all murderers breathe. :rolleyes:


I'd venture a guess that a statistically insignificant percent of people who pirate content use it as a gateway to other felonies.

[thoughtomator]

This is actually an improvement over how things are done now, where companies harvest IP addresses and sue people thousands at a time for $150k each, without doing any due diligence whatsoever.

[easycougar]

An ISP's job is to provide the physical transmission media to get internet into my house. The data that is going through the physical media is none of their business.

[thoughtomator]

The problem the ISPs are facing is that the endless flood of subpoenas for user identities from copyright troll lawyers has made it their business.

The core problem here is the application of laws against commercial copyright infringement to what are essentially "fair use" home users.

[jbauer]

An ISP's job is to provide the physical transmission media to get internet into my house. The data that is going through the physical media is none of their business.

This is true, it'd be like the phone company going after you for selling drugs over your phone or a car company for coming after you for DUI's. I still remember when Napster was the latest and greatest thing out there. I also remember they started screening names. Metalica was one of the big complainers so people were spelling it as Metalicocks. I rember downloading atleast 1 Metalicock song every day just so they could see the numbers as being downloaded.

Anyway the story here, is that there will be a way around this for anyone who wants to do it. I'd like to know how much revenue goes to the ISP's with the main intent on downloading stuff?

[jllundqu]

Oh I'm sure the folks at Pirate Bay are quaking in their lil pirate booties...

I do agree that it is NONE of the ISP's business what sites I visit. If they can start blocking/regulating pirate sites, it can only expand from there and become de facto internet regulation. Scary stuff.

***Disclaimer - I have not used, nor do I intend to use, pirated copyright materials from sites such as Pirate Bay. Furthermore, I have not downloaded every episode of Game of Thrones from Pirate Bay nor have I repeatedly watched those episodes.***

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

Metalica was one of the big complainers so people were spelling it as Metalicocks. I rember downloading atleast 1 Metalicock song every day just so they could see the numbers as being downloaded.


Lars Ulrich = Boo hoo hoo. Rarely seen someone come off as such a crybaby. He cried so much, it actually made me less of a fan. (or not one at all for a long time.)

[psi2941]

I got one of these letter. Ever since then, I only use VPN when i download something.

[torchbearer]

btguard.com
two options:
proxy
or
vpn
SSL server available

[talkingpointes]

Piratebay.org already offers a vpn. We might have to go back to FTPs or (m)IRC for a while though.

[easycougar]

For those who have experience with VPNs: How much of a performance hit is there (traffic has to be encrypted/decrypted, travel quite a distance, bandwidth constraints on the VPN server)? I'd like to setup an account on a decent pay site, but do it anonymously somehow.