US ISPs become 'copyright cops' starting July 12

[Metroid Prime]

I found an article today about how Comcast, Cablevision, Verizon, Time Warner cable Cable and other internet service providers (ISPs) in the united sates will soon launch new programs to police there networks in an effort to catch digital pirates and stop illegal file-sharing. I think this is good and I'm glad that people are starting to take a stand against the ever rising internet piracy. Free is ok as long as it's legal and not pirated off someone else' hard work. I would be pretty unhappy if someone took my hard work and started making illegal copy's of it and started making a profit off it or making it a free download. You can read the rest of this article here. US ISPs become 'copyright cops' starting July 12 | Fox News

 

[9to5cynic]

While I don't agree with piracy, I definitely don't agree with the ISPs being grunts to the RIAA/MPAA. This will just mean we have smarter pirates who use better encryption.

Soon enough everyone will be just sending truecrypt files back and forth calling them something like Ld98afd and that'll correspond to whatever they are pirating.

I honestly think that these industries are dying and this is just them clinging on to one last breath. I still buy my movies. Just bought a few recently, and I enjoy them. If prices were more reasonable... and albums had more than one good song....

(not all albums sucks... just like not all movies are over priced.)

 

[OstrichSaK]

I've been getting warnings from Comcast for some time now. This is nothing new and ISPs are claiming to be the champion of good against the war on evil but the what's in it for them is that pirating tends to soak up a LOT of bandwidth so they can warn those who do it and they will likely cease which will return their bandwidth use down to normal user usage. If there was a way for them to save/make money teaching users how to pirate and encouraging them to do so bet your last dollar they would.

Eff RIAA

Eff Comcrap

Eff 'em all!

 

[seaking]

guess who is going to get the bill for this new hollywood police force?

 

[Metroid Prime]

Criminals will always find a way to outfox things like these.

 

[Gmash]

Seems like a conflict of interest since most of the ISP's also have large stakes in content providers. (movie studios, music labels, cable networks, etc)

 

[Drhyde]

Hmm.. Me thinks I've lost confidence in my routine ISP. I thought the whole thing with them was they were dumb pipes. I'm not pirating anyways, but ISP companies used to be against this. If your ISP will give you up over the newest Lady Gaga album, do you really trust them anymore?

 

[mikedt]

I always thought the ISPs had a common carrier status, like the post office, telephone companies, public transport, etc. "dumb pipes" as Drhyde puts it.
Common carrier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically someone is using a telephone for illegal activities, it's NOT the phone company's job to police and prosecute them.

Surely this means if ISPs are snooping on their subscriber's activities and doing the RIAA and MPAA dirty work for them, they lose that common carrier status?

 

[Drhyde]

I always thought the ISPs had a common carrier status, like the post office, telephone companies, public transport, etc. "dumb pipes" as Drhyde puts it.
Common carrier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically someone is using a telephone for illegal activities, it's NOT the phone company's job to police and prosecute them.

Surely this means if ISPs are snooping on their subscriber's activities and doing the RIAA and MPAA dirty work for them, they lose that common carrier status?

According to that link, current ISP companies have managed to avoid bring classified as such. Considering that they would be liable for the IP losses, I can see why. However, it does mention telecommunications companies as common carriers which is why you don't see AT&T here.