In nine days, five major ISPs — Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, Verizon, and Cablevision — will activate the Copyright Alert System, colloquially known as the “six strikes” program. Implementation of the program has been delayed for nearly a year, while the various ISPs, studios, and publishers hammered out the details.

The five ISPs listed above have agreed to rely on the copyright infringement data provided by a data analytics program known as MarkMonitor. MarkMonitor is to be administered by Stroz Friedberg, a company that specializes in “Digital Risk Management & Investigations.” Time Warner Cable, AT&T, and Verizon have shared (or leaked) information on how they intend to implement and communicate CAS; Cablevision and Comcast are unlikely to deviate much from their approach. Internet service providers have approached this idea very gingerly, fearing a consumer backlash.

Time Warner Cable

TWC will notify users by email or phone if they are found to have downloaded infringing content. The fifth or sixth time an infringement is detected, the ISP will display a pop-up message that only disappears after the user acknowledges that they’ve been notified they downloaded copyrighted material. Since multiple users frequently access the same modem, every system connected to the service will be notified.

Time Warner’s final penalty is to block access to “popular sites” for several days. The company has not released a list of sites it blocks or any information on how long the block will last. It has stated that account termination is not an option.

Verizon

Verizon will first notify customers, then force customers to acknowledge that the notification was received. It won’t block any websites, but will severely throttle data connections for several days. The company hasn’t given specific information on how much it will throttle connections, or for how long. It has also said that account termination is not a possible penalty.

AT&T

AT&T will notify customers of infringement the first three times. After that, users will be blocked from accessing “certain websites” until they complete an educational tutorial, as discussed below:

We’re all friends here

The Memo of Understanding (MoU) between the various ISPs, studios, and publishers is a world away from the arrogant, high-handed demands that characterized SOPA & PIPA. It reserves substantial power to the ISPs and gives them broad discretionary powers as far as dealing with cases of infringement. Thus far, ISPs are choosing not to exercise their right to terminate accounts.

The MoU is, in many ways, a model example of restraint and common sense. There’s a defined seven-day grace period between each warning; customers can’t rack up seven infringements in a single weekend. If the user appeals the infringement claim, no further action is taken until the appeal is resolved. There’s also a 12-month limit on infringement claim counts. Rack up five strikes, then stay clean for a year, and you’re back to strike one.

With a side dish of blatant self interest

Hollywood being what it is, there’s already been a few issues along the road to smooth implementation. Stroz Friedberg, the company hired to oversee MarkMonitor, once lobbied extensively on behalf of the RIAA. The RIAA mysteriously forgot to mention that to both of its fellow studios and the ISPs. The Center for Copyright Information (that’s the joint organization the two groups founded) was caught off guard by that detail, and has promised to bring in a second consultant to ensure that the work done by Stroz Friedberg was on the level.

I believe the movie and music companies when they say they have no intent of suing everyone. ISPs have come to the table on this topic with extreme reluctance; they’ve got zero interest in taking actions that could alienate customers. Nevertheless, the dynamics of the situation have subtly shifted. Now, if you allegedly commit copyright infringement, your name goes on a list. Your ISP may reset your number of strikes to 0 after a year, but that doesn’t mean the MPAA/RIAA have waived the right to sue.

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