The Internet Police are Coming!!

[RVR II]

US ISPs become 'copyright cops' starting July 12


Published March 17, 2012


Comcast, Cablevision, Verizon, Time Warner Cable and other Internet service providers (ISPs) in the United States will soon launch new programs to police their networks in an effort to catch digital pirates and stop illegal file-sharing.

Major ISPs announced last summer that they had agreed to take new measures in an effort to prevent subscribers from illegally downloading copyrighted material, but the specifics surrounding the imminent antipiracy measures were not made available. Now, RIAA chief executive Cary Sherman has said that ISPs are ready to begin their efforts to curtail illegal movie, music and software downloads on July 12.

"Each ISP has to develop their infrastructure for automating the system," Sherman said during a talk at the annual Association of American Publishers meeting, according to CNET. Measures will also be taken to establish databases "so they can keep track of repeat infringers, so they know that this is the first notice or the third notice. Every ISP has to do it differently depending on the architecture of its particular network. Some are nearing completion and others are a little further from completion."

Customers found to be illegally downloading copyrighted material will first receive one or two notifications from their ISPs, essentially stating that they have been caught. If the illegal downloads continue, subscribers will receive a new notice requesting acknowledgement that the notice has been received. Subsequent offenses can then result in bandwidth throttling and even service suspension.

The news comes shortly after the closure of file-sharing giant Megaupload and increased pressure on other networks thought to be major hubs for the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. Some studies show that these measures have had no impact on piracy, however, so organizations like the RIAA have been lobbying for ISPs to intervene and develop systems that will allow them to police their networks and directly address subscribers who illegally download copyrighted content.

[SJP]

Well, at least this is a nicer way of going about it than the 'Ubisoft' method.  It's targeting people who do it, and it does so in gradual stages instead of going straight to the FBI and the whole "6 Months in Jail, $125,000 in Fines" thing that's at the beginning of every movie ever made.  Will it work?  Don't know...I don't use filesharing, but I'm sure there are methods around it out there.  But anything that's more of a bother to the people actually doing the infringing as opposed to the customers who are minding their own business is certainly a much more winning method in my book.

Of course, I think the real issue at hand here, seeing as it's the RIAA that's at the forefront, is that the music industry still seems incapable of realizing that they need to do a major overhaul in their business model.  The movie industry has gone through more stable platforms in the past decade than the music industry has in 30 years, and movie studios still seem to be profitable even with piracy going on.  If you haven't changed much in a third of a century and suddenly your profits are dwindling, there may be a problem with YOU, not with everyone else.

[MrTorso]

I wonder how exactly this is going to be accomplished. I guess if you are using a P2P system it will be fairly easy but direct downloads from a site? or Usenet?  How are they going to prove infringement? It will be interesting to see.

[stansimpson]

Looks like I'll be figuring out how to use Usenet in the next coming months. Stupid old habits dying hard.

[RVR II]

I know my local ISP is watching me as I've already received one letter 2 years ago about exceeding my bandwidth due to a total of 541G downloaded in one month by my friend who was house sitting my place while we were in Mexico, and even a phone call from my ISP with regards to a Star Wars game a few years ago by my old roommate..
This could've been done as well via wireless router (someone hacking into it and stealing your bandwidth) which is now wired only.

[CJones]

I had Cox Communications actually cut off my internet access after I downloaded Jurassic Park 3 (for the Matthew T Elliott riff) from a BitTorrent site. They told me I had to delete the file to restore my service. I did so... then just re-downloaded it from a different site.

What I want to know is, how do they know what I have on my computer?

[MrTorso]

I had Cox Communications actually cut off my internet access after I downloaded Jurassic Park 3 (for the Matthew T Elliott riff) from a BitTorrent site. They told me I had to delete the file to restore my service. I did so... then just re-downloaded it from a different site.

What I want to know is, how do they know what I have on my computer?

They don't know. All they know is that you did download it. When you use BitTorrent your IP is easy to get and if they get a report they send you that letter. Same thing happened to me when I was with COX in Arizona.

[k1]

Should be interesting to see how all this works (or doesn't).

[MrTorso]

Yeah my Usenet provider offers a VPN that is supposed to keep things from prying ISP eyes. I may have to look into that when the time comes.

[anais.jude]

I heard that it will be harder to prosecute for people who download TV shows becuase after qa show has "aired" it belongs to the audience.

I only mention because I only torrent Archer. So I have the file openned for about 5 min and then immediatly delete the seed (I know, I am a bitch) and exit out of all torrent stuff. Granted outside of the season finale next week (which I technically will not be able to download until I come back from TX,...goog thing I will finally have a TV) by the time Season 4 of archer starts I should finally be taking advantage of my FREE tv subscription.

[Riffman for Hire]

What about libraries and cyber cafes?  If a patron illegally downloads a copyrighted file there, will all the computers be shut down?  Or will they have security software in place to monitor all downloads?

With filesharing services, how can they tell which files are legitimate and which are not if they are renamed and broken up into .zip, .rar or .001 files?  Do they measure how many MB the file is or have some system in place to detect what the file will be when put back together?

[Variety of Cells]

What about libraries and cyber cafes?  If a patron illegally downloads a copyrighted file there, will all the computers be shut down?  Or will they have security software in place to monitor all downloads?

With filesharing services, how can they tell which files are legitimate and which are not if they are renamed and broken up into .zip, .rar or .001 files?  Do they measure how many MB the file is or have some system in place to detect what the file will be when put back together?

Because they aren't looking for the files on your computer, they are keeping track of if you downloaded a specific file from a file sharing service or a torrent.  I can see it working one of two ways, or a combination of both is more likely:

1. People are hired to download as much potentially pirated material as they can.  Then they flag the downloads that turn out to indeed be pirated.  The program then monitors what ip addresses download those flagged files from those specific sites or torrents or what have you.

2. A program is created to search for specific key words.  When those pop up those files are flagged.  If the content is deemed to be pirated then the ip addresses downloading those files will be contacted.

So it seems that if you still feel like pirating stuff, you have a better chance pirating new content before they flag it.  But who's to say they can't retroactively go back and see who has downloaded a file once a file is flagged?  In any case, it doesn't matter if the file is renamed or chopped up or even if you still have that file on your computer.  It only matters that you downloaded it.

[Darth Geek]

1. People are hired to download as much potentially pirated material as they can.  Then they flag the downloads that turn out to indeed be pirated.  The program then monitors what ip addresses download those flagged files from those specific sites or torrents or what have you.

This one makes me think of this Dilbert Comic Strip:

[Variety of Cells]

1. People are hired to download as much potentially pirated material as they can.  Then they flag the downloads that turn out to indeed be pirated.  The program then monitors what ip addresses download those flagged files from those specific sites or torrents or what have you.

This one makes me think of this Dilbert Comic Strip:

Can't say it wouldn't be a fun job.

[Riffman for Hire]

Because they aren't looking for the files on your computer, they are keeping track of if you downloaded a specific file from a file sharing service or a torrent.  I can see it working one of two ways, or a combination of both is more likely:

1. People are hired to download as much potentially pirated material as they can.  Then they flag the downloads that turn out to indeed be pirated.  The program then monitors what ip addresses download those flagged files from those specific sites or torrents or what have you.

2. A program is created to search for specific key words.  When those pop up those files are flagged.  If the content is deemed to be pirated then the ip addresses downloading those files will be contacted.

So it seems that if you still feel like pirating stuff, you have a better chance pirating new content before they flag it.  But who's to say they can't retroactively go back and see who has downloaded a file once a file is flagged?  In any case, it doesn't matter if the file is renamed or chopped up or even if you still have that file on your computer.  It only matters that you downloaded it.

What about proxy IP addresses and VPNs?  Can the technology get around them? 

Also you mentioned specific programs designed to catch keywords.  But a lot of pirates won't call a title by its specific name.  Just for the sake of argument, let's say someone does a camera rip of The Hunger Games from theaters.  They won't necessarily name the file The Hunger Games or Hunger Games.  They might call it THGrip or The_hUngr_g@mes or H_g@mesrip or something totally different like Katnissfilm.  Wouldn't people have to manually sift through hundreds of thousands of names to find the right ones?

And isn't downloading the pirated material in the first place illegal?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but to enforce the law doesn't that mean they have to first break the law?  Or are they allowed to keep it for a short time to help them find pirates or is there some other exception?  Not to mention how many millions of sites have pirated content on the internet, with new ones popping up all the time.