"Six strikes"� debuts in U.S.

[nsane.forums]

Despite pending launch, Copyright Alert System not mentioned on most ISP sites.


This is how the Center for Copyright Information imagines its new Copyright Alert System.

After months of delay, the “Copyright Alert System,” (also known as “six strikes”) is ready for its “implementation phase.” Participating ISPs will be rolling out the system “over the course of the next several days.”

As we’ve reported previously, six strikes was conceived of by Center for Copyright Information (CCI)—an umbrella group representing major ISPs across the US and representatives from the recording and film industries. The group agreed in 2011 to come up with a six-stage warning scheme that would progressively warn—and eventually penalize—alleged online copyright infringers. (Here's the CCI's new video explaining the process and its new promo video.)

CCI has said previously that filing an appeal will cost $35.

"The CAS marks a new way to reach consumers who may be engaging in peer-to-peer (P2P) piracy," wrote Jill Lesser, CCI’s head, on Monday. Its launch today "marks the culmination of many months of work" to stop piracy and promote lawful alternatives.

She has also previously acknowledged to Ars that six strikes would not alter the behavior of those who use a VPN, Tor, or other similar digital tools to obscure one's digital footprint.

Participating ISPs, including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Cablevision, and Time Warner Cable, have yet to publicize any information or even mention the program anywhere on their websites—except Verizon, which refers to it as the “Copyright Alert Program.”

Ars has requested comment from all of the ISPs about their launch date and specific terms of service, but only Verizon has responded.

“We’ll let you know after we’ve notified our customers,” Ed McFadden, a Verizon spokesperson, told Ars.

Verizon won’t cut you off

In its own description of the program, however, Verizon uses a lot of the same language that Lesser has previously described to Ars—that six strikes isn’t meant to be punitive, but rather educative.

Verizon, though, has said on its own website that it will engage in speed reduction but not outright termination.

The goal of our program is to alert you about possible copyright infringement involving your account so that you, as the account owner, can take steps to prevent it from happening in the future. The program uses an escalating approach to sending alerts that starts with email and recorded voice mail alerts. If we receive more than two notices related to your account, we will send you an alert via a web page pop-up that will require you to click to acknowledge receipt of the alert. If we receive a fifth copyright notice from copyright owners related to your account, we will send you an alert via a web page pop-up notifying you that, unless you elect to seek an independent review of the validity of the notices you received (see below for more details), your Internet access service speed will be temporarily reduced for a period of 2 days to a rate of 256Kbps (a little faster than typical dial-up speed). We will let you know 14 days before any reduction in speed is scheduled to occur. The same process will apply if you receive a sixth alert except that the temporary speed reduction will be for 3 days rather than 2.

Finally, our Copyright Alert Program is designed to promote education and awareness of copyright issues and does not include termination of service at any stage of the process.

At least one Comcast customer has raised the issue of account termination in the company’s forums, posing it this way:

I simply want to know and this should be CLEARLY LISTED IN Black and White on the Comcast Terms of Service. If a Subscriber receives 6 Strikes WILL HIS SERVICE BE TERMINATED ?? Yes or No ?? Why no one else is asking this question is beyond me.

We’re still waiting for an answer from Comcast too.

In the meantime, the president of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge called the activation of six strikes a "significant test."

"I urge both the participating Internet service providers and the content companies to be more open and transparent about how the CAS works and, after the system has been in place for a time, to provide the public data that shows how the system is working," Gigi Sohn, who is also a CCI advisory board member, said in a statement. "I will continue to use my role on the Center for Copyright Information Advisory Board to ensure that Internet users' rights are protected; that the process provided under the CAS is robust and accessible; and that the CAS operates transparently and with public input."

View: Original Article

[Ambrocious]

Well shit....

[DKT27]

“Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Starts Today, With Mystery Punishments

Today the controversial “six-strikes” anti-piracy system kicks off in the United States. Soon the first BitTorrent users will receive so-called copyright alerts from their Internet provider and after multiple warnings subscribers will be punished. But, what these punishments entail remains a bit of a mystery. None of the participating ISPs have officially announced how they will treat repeat infringers and the CCI doesn’t have this information either.

Today the MPAA and RIAA, helped by five major Internet providers in the United States, will start to warn BitTorrent pirates.

The parties launched the Center for Copyright Information (CCI) and agreed on a system through which copyright infringers are warned that their behavior is unacceptable. After five or six warnings ISPs may then take a variety of repressive measures.

The scheme was initially announced during the summer of 2011 and after a series of delays it goes live today.

“Over the course of the next several days our participating ISPs will begin rolling out the system,” CCI Executive Director Jill Lesser just announced.

“Practically speaking, this means our content partners will begin sending notices of alleged P2P copyright infringement to ISPs, and the ISPs will begin forwarding those notices in the form of Copyright Alerts to consumers,” she adds.

Strangely enough, none of the Internet providers has officially announced what mitigation measures they will take to punish repeated infringers. TorrentFreak asked CCI to fill us in, but the organization doesn’t have this information either.

“Unfortunately the ISPs have not yet provided us with the exact mitigation measures,” a CCI spokesperson told us.

From leaked information we previously learned that AT&T will block users’ access to some of the most frequently visited websites on the Internet, until they complete a copyright course. Verizon will slow down the connection speeds of repeated pirates, and Time Warner Cable will temporarily interrupt people’s ability to browse the Internet.

The two remaining providers, Cablevison and Comcast, are expected to take similar measures. None of the ISPs will permanently disconnect repeat infringers as part of the plan.

Some skeptics have pointed out that the copyright alert system wont have much effect since there are many ways to beat the system. BitTorrent users, for example, can protect their privacy and prevent monitoring by using a VPN, proxy or seedbox.

Alternatively, some determined pirates may switch to other platforms that are not monitored, including Usenet, cyberlockers, streaming sites or offline swapping. Those who use private BitTorrent trackers may be safe for now, but monitoring company MarkMonitor was advised to start eyeing these sites as well.

For CCI and their partners these workarounds are not a major problem. They have said from the start that the program aims to educate the public, in particular more casual file-sharers.

While the copyright alert system is much more reasonable than the equivalents in France and New Zealand, there is the worrying possibility that it will be used to gather evidence to start legal action against individuals.

As we reported previously, Internet providers will have to inform copyright holders about which IP-addresses are repeatedly flagged. The MPAA and RIAA can then use this information to ask the court for a subpoena, so they can obtain the personal details of the account holder.

This possibility was also confirmed by leaked documents from AT&T.

“After the fifth alert, the content owner may pursue legal action against the customer, and may seek a court order requiring AT&T to turn over personal information to assist the litigation,” AT&T explained.

There’s no concrete indication that repeated infringers will be taken to court, and if this happens it’s not part of the copyright alert system.

More on this, and the other missing details on the “six strikes” system, will become clear during the coming months.

View: Original Article

[Marik]

so, have any of you who live in the states received any mails from your ISP's yet?

[SPECTRUM]

SHARE THINGS != PIRACITY

we can block all these server ip ranges that send these "Copyright Alert System" and add them in a filter list, like: http://www.iblocklist.com/lists.php

so later we can use these list in Windows with; PeerBlock (http://www.peerblock.com/), ot Linux with: IPTables, etc ;)