RSSAT&T and Comcast are surprise participants in RIAA anti-piracy plan
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published January 29, 2009, 11:43 AM
Ironically enough, ISPs Comcast and AT&T are reportedly supporting the RIAA's new three-strikes plan, a quietly emerging measure to thwart music pirating among US residents by disconnecting pirates from their ISPs.
Like music industry groups in Britain, France, and elsewhere, the US-based RIAA is now starting to abandon its previous policy of suing suspected pirates in favor of severing these users from the Internet.
Under the RIAA's quietly emerging three-strikes plan, ISPs would first send out two warning letters before pulling the switch on Internet access. But details of the program are still being fleshed out. According to published reports this week, ISPs Comcast and AT&T are taking part in the plan, whereas some other US-based ISPs, such as Verizon, are not.
Some observers say, however, that Comcast and AT&T won't admit to their participation in the three-strikes program, partly because they're afraid of losing business to ISPs that don't support the strategy. One theory has it that Comcast and AT&T are getting behind the plan because they've evolved over the years into being content providers in addition to ISPs.
AT&T is reportedly stepping even further on the anti-piracy side into testing piracy filters, usage caps, and metered billing.
it would be great if fios was available in my area !
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|lets add consolidated communications to this big brother list i just got my first letter from my isp service for using a bittorrent.the complaint was lionsgate!!
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|That's OK, my subdivision is full of morons who have no idea how to hide or protect their wireless networks with a password.
Free access for all!
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|I really don't see how this can be legal, especially if you signed a contract with the ISP before this comes into effect. Oh, America!
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|Most ToS allow for changing of such without notice, especially for network management practices.
This is all well and good until it results in the termination of contracts, in which case, they *will* have a court date.
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|The contract that you agree to simply says that you agree to abide by rules that can be changed at any time for any reason without any notice whatsoever. This pretty much eliminates any possibility of lawsuits.
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|Meh...
Got a little miffed at these idiots and knee-jerked. You are probably right, I haven't looked at it in a while, but I seriously question how this "helps the consumer" in any way shape or form...
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|Wow, I decided to drop Comcast when I heard about this, that it was coming, and switched to qwest optical.
Now, when I move this summer I'm moving into an area of the city that has Netopia Optical thru xmission, then I wont have to worry about all of these big corporations doing stupid stuff.
Good buy Comcast, I hope this move drives you further into the ground and out of business.
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|Cademiax!!!!!!!!
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|dale1v_!!!
why is your name familiar?
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|If this happens, Looks like Verizon is the way to go. Everyone, tell everyone about this, so that on the day this becomes active, Comcast loses like 50% subscribers. LOL, then look at what their reaction will be
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|As if Comcast could get any worse...
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|this is a law suit waiting to happen.
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|So how deep are they going to check out these DMCA letters they get?
If I send a few out because my neighbor pissed me off are they still going to disconnect him? The ability of *anyone* to abuse this is beyond belief. Is there going to be any way for the user to appeal this disconnection?
Comcast has treated me well, but I will strongly consider going elsewhere if they push forward with this as I doubt there will be any paper-trail, any way for the customer to appeal, or even confirm the letters are real. For all we know, this is just another way for Comcast to start dropping their heaviest users. Send out a few fake letters and "Whalla!", the 10% of users that take up the most bandwidth are gone...at virtually no loss in income to them.
If they even *try* to void my contract because of something stupid like this, they *will* be appearing in court. End of story.
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|Can a corporation, or its representatives, ever do wrong? [smiles]
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|Though it may amaze you to learn, they can also do right. This just doesn't happen to be one of those times. [rollseyes]
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|Tool,
What should be done here, and this is attendant to "Throttling", is number one, get rid of Bits & Pieces, next can fools like FoxynoFire & Trolls, ain't no excuse for blanks. And, dummies' who try to articulate and bedazzle we mere mortals with their deep insights!
I know this may be perceived as insulting, but by christo, whom of the two of you is the craziest?
Your penultimate para is most curious, quite contrary to your usual contrariness, indeed almost consumer advocate like in its syntax, which as we all well know is not a sentiment you favour!
Have a nice day.
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|You'd be amazed how "consumer advocate" I am. Many of my ideals do, in fact, benefit the consumer. Most folks just don't have enough farsight to see beyond the "Hey, this benefits the corporations! It must be Bad™!" knee-jerk.
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|PC_T,
Take it from me "Dan the Man", consumer advocacy is little more than a whimsical notion.
The fact of the matter here is "Caveat Emptor", that's suck it and see to you n00bs'.
Gee I love this board.
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|I have to agree. BUt I'm all for this. for 1 reason. I want to see millions of customers being forcefully disconnected from their ISPs, and sit back and watch as those millions go forth and embrace services that DO NOT allow the RIAA MPAA to cause customers to move to mass exodus.
In my preview this is the perfect point to force royalty rights online for P2P. Millions of customers lost. the industry with FINALLY have their hands forced and have the ISPs demanding a Royalty fee solution so they can retain their customers. the alternative is Comcast and AT&T go out of business. Again. Also a great thing cause it will serve and an example for other ISPs. to NOT loose customers.
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|So if I'm pulled over for speeding 3 times and given a warning (not actually charged or convicted of speeding,) does that mean the Bank or my Auto Mfg should repo my Car?
NO...it means I should be punished under the law after due process, not by a corporation trying to protect their own interests by bullying another corporation into bullying their customers...all without any conviction of criminal activity.
The RIAA is doing nothing but a big end around the courts and law enforcement.
How long until a class action suit of users that had their internet disconnected without any criminal conviction is filed against the ISP or the RIAA?
I'm pretty sure the law of our land goes something like:
1. Innocent until proven guilty
2. Punishment if found guilty.
Even "3 strikes and you’re out," law requires 3 convictions.
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|Exactly.
At the heart of this little operation I'm sure there is a piece of software. A piece of software written by a bunch of imperfect humans which means it has bugs. And when one those bugs misidentifies you, you will have no recourse, no redemption, no way to correct the mistakes of others against you.
I should also add that the RIAA has been found guilty of criminal acts in a few states due to their previous techniques of identifying individuals was found to be illegal. There is no doubt they want to side step the legal system. It's cheaper for them and by doing this on a mass scale provides them much more "income" from the their efforts.
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|Depends if it's against the terms of the contract (which it almost certainly will be).
Then you've broken the contract.
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|Rogue,
Ya dummy, your final comment! No it does not.
Perceptions have been spun to such a level these past few years, values have changed.
As foxynofire (full of blanks), will attest if not already done, it's a matter of interpretation.
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|Comcast wont be happy until it is pure text all the way. In spite of their ridiculously high cost and low service broadband they still have poor network infrastructure, ongoing equipment issues and poor reliability. Perhaps they could take a break from tooting their horn and actually provide a decent level of broadband service. Pretty easy to advertise all that super fast, abundant and ever-increasing bandwidth that customers never seem to see..
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|everybody change to verizon if you want to keep your internet access that you paid for and don't want a nanny telling you how to use your internet
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