Verizon’s 'Six Strikes' anti-piracy policy unearthed

[Shawn Knight]

The controversial “six strikes” anti-piracy system is scheduled to go into effect in the US within the next few weeks. Five major Internet service providers will initially be participating including Verizon, whose policy on the system was recently obtained by the gang at TorrentFreak.

According to the document, a Verizon customer that is caught sharing copyrighted material via BitTorrent will first receive two notifications. These alerts will be delivered by email and automatic voice mail to the contact information on file. Verizon will additionally provide a link to information on how to check and see if file sharing software is installed on your computer, how to go about removing it if it is installed and where you can obtain content legally.

Strikes three and four will redirect users to a website that forces them to acknowledge they received the first alerts. Furthermore, those accused of file sharing for the third and fourth time will be required to watch a video about copyright law and the consequences of copyright infringement. Clicking the acknowledgement button isn’t an admission of guilt but simply lets the ISP know that you have received the alert.

The fifth and sixth strike will redirect the user to a webpage where they are given multiple options to choose from. Users can agree to an immediate temporary reduction in Internet speed to 256Kbps (hardly any faster than dial-up) for about two to three days, agree to the same speed reduction but delay it for a period of 14 days or ask for a review of the validity of the alerts by the American Arbitration Association.

It’s worth pointing out that if further infringements are discovered after the sixth violation, nothing more will happen. Connection speeds won’t be throttled and users will not receive any more alerts. What could happen, however, is that the MPAA and RIAA could obtain your IP address to take legal action if they so desire.

Interestingly enough, these measures will also apply to business customers which could have a negative impact on the availability of free public Wi-Fi.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/51314-verizons-six-strikes-anti-piracy-policy-unearthed.html

 

[Guest]

In before Verizon bashing from IP thieves.

 

[Guest]

Maybe someone could provide a complete list of ISP's that are planning on implementing it?

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

"Interestingly enough, these measures will also apply to business customers which could have a negative impact on the availability of free public Wi-Fi."

Didn't we already have a ruling that established that you are not responsible for what people do on your wi-fi?

You forgot strike 7, when the offending customer drops Verizon as an ISP and goes with someone else.

 

[oldikes]

Whats funny is that verizon won't let people know that "file sharing software" can be used quite legally. And is actually quite useful to us who dont use it for piracy.

 

[Greg S]

If you get a new ISP you get a new IP so.... All this does is promote people to switch ISP's every few months.

 

[Tygerstrike]

@Win
They will be keeping a list of offending customers. That list will be shared with all the companies who will be participating in this program. Strike #7 they hand your information over to MPAA/RIAA. You then feel slighted because you have been caught and branded as a thief and you wont be able to get internet with any of those companies. Kinda funny when you think about it. Eventually the only internet ppl will be able to get will be prepaid services. But ppl were warned this would happen. They still continued to pirate and now we have this. And I assure you this is simply the begining. I certainly hope it was worth it because it only gets worse from here.

 

[Guest]

"Too bad your IP is not your identity" said the courts.
"Surely you jest!" the motion picture association protested!
"I'm afraid not, but feel free to try to prosecute individuals." replied the courts.

 

[Guest]

As Verizon & all the other isp's subscribing to this policy of privacy intrution of individual private internet accounts, as they become the #1 enemies of their customers, who are they going to depend on for customer revenue? Hopefuly MPA/RIAA made a deal with them to compensate them for the resentment that the isp's will get from their ex-customers for the violation of their privacy...

 

[Guest]

This has nothing to do with anti-piracy as Verizon has not content or intellectual property being downloaded. Verizon is using this opportunity to justify scaling back bandwidth they are contractually obligated to provide to it's paying customers.

 

[Littleczr]

I'm sure there is ways around this. Sooner or later the work around will be made popular.

 

[Guest]

Beer-to-Peer is already popular...

 

[Guest]

What if you use an IP proxy like Spotflux and Hotspot shield?

 

[Tygerstrike]

@above Guest(s)
First Guest: The reason this is being innitiated is because the MPAA/RIAA want thier money they feel is owed to them by pirates, so they use this tool to weed out the average user. The only ppl to get to six strikes would be your actual pirates.
Second Guest:
No they will continue to provide the speeds and bandwidth to those customers who are not being flagged for pirating. Dont pirate and your updown speeds will be the same. If anything it will get faster for those that do not pirate. As the bandwidth the pirates would use is taken from them.
Shouldnt you guests be out in the yard moaning "Braaaaaiiins"?

 

[Guest]

End the duopoly, please. Then we can't be blackmailed by this fascist corporate elite. Go to your city or county government and demand they terminate their franchise agreement with Verize et al.

 

[fimbles]

Bye bye verizon!

Was not nice knowing you!

 

[Guest]

Strike #8

1. Go find the local neighborhood crackhead psycho.
2. Give him a free all day bus pass, a $100 gift card for Joe's ammo, and a letter from your ISP saying his internet was just cancelled and he cant download anymore porn.
3. Then go get some beer, chips and watch the evening news

 

[St1ckM4n]

IP =/= individual, so I'm not sure how exactly this is fair.

 

[spydercanopus]

Anybody remember "Internet 2" talk? That's what you'll eventually get. A very specific set of websites you may access, a whitelist.

If only Tesla were alive to invent global wireless ad-hoc p2p networks to bypass the Bandwidth Barons.

 

[Guest]

Who is insane enough to download stuff via Torrent? Wasn't that for 12-year olds?

 

[St1ckM4n]

Who is insane enough to download stuff via Torrent? Wasn't that for 12-year olds?

Lolwut. Do you even know what a torrent is, let alone P2P protocol? Have a read of this and if it's still unclear why P2P is awesome, come back here.

 

[Tygerstrike]

What I find funny is that ppl continue to pirate despite the legal ramifications. Heres a bit of an incidient that happend with me. I found out that the Cellphone/ISP companies were going to instigate the 6 strikes law. I was discussing this with a friend of mine who pirated notoriously. I explained that pirating was go the way of the DoDo because MPAA/RIAA really wanted to crack down on piracy. He looked at the articles and came to the conclusion that pirating wasnt going to be worth it anymore. Moral of the story: Be proactive and talk to your friends about this. One bit of constructive advice might save your friend a lawsuit or jailtime.

 

[ShadowDeath]

No matter how you look at it legal or piracy it's still a full force invasion of privacy. The methods to track this type of traffic would involve packet sniffers. This could expose sensitive material which we know Verizon has been known to sell in the past.