Pirates Beware, ISPs Agree to Copyright Alert System

[Tracy 2112]

Pirates Beware, ISPs Agree to Copyright Alert System

By Chloe Albanesius/ pcmag.com

Do you subscribe to HBO or did you illegally download the latest episode of "True Blood" online? If it's the latter, you might find yourself in receipt of a warning from your ISP, thanks to a new agreement between Hollywood studios and service providers.

A coalition of copyright holders and ISPs like Comcast and Verizon have signed up for the "Copyright Alert System," which will provide notices to consumers if their ISP suspects there is illegal downloading going on.

Many ISPs already provide warnings to users if sketchy behavior is detected, but the Copyright Alert System is intended to provide a standardized approach that all ISPs will use. Going forward, users will get a notice if they are suspected of illegal downloading. If they ignore that message, the ISP might resort to pop-ups or redirecting to special Web sites that display the alert. If those too are ignored, the ISP will turn to "mitigation measures," which could include throttling or permanent re-direction to a warning landing page until contact is established.

"These steps will only be taken after multiple alerts and a failure by the subscriber to respond. This system consists of at least five alerts," the alliance said on its Web site. "We anticipate that very few subscribers, after having received multiple alerts, will persist (or allow others to persist) in the content theft."

Participating ISPs include AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon. The effort also has the support of the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, as well as small and independent studios and labels.

"This is a sensible approach to the problem of online-content theft and, importantly, one that respects the privacy and rights of our subscribers," said Randal S. Milch, Verizon's general counsel.

"Consumers have a right to know if their broadband account is being used for illegal online content theft, or if their own online activity infringes on copyright rules—inadvertently or otherwise—so that they can correct that activity," said James Assey, executive vice president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA).

The alliance insisted that account termination is not part of the alert system, but "section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires that the ISPs have in place a termination policy for repeat copyright infringers as a condition of availing themselves of the Act's 'safe harbor' provision," the group said. "This is why subscribers have a right to know if it has been alleged that content theft is taking place on their accounts, and a right to respond."

ISPs will be made aware of the illegal downloading via "a notice from a copyright holder or its representative," the group said. The ISP matches the IP address identified by the copyright holder with a subscriber account, and then forwards a Copyright Alert to the subscriber. The ISPs, however, will "never provide any personally identifiable information to copyright holders" without a subpoena or court order, the group said.

Users can request an independent review before any of the "mitigation measures" are put into place, but that will cost them $35.

The group denied that the effort is similar to the "three strikes" laws being implemented across the pond because the alerts do not create any new laws or formal legal procedures and do not include account termination.

[johnnYYac]

I received an email and a letter from my ISP warning me that my IP address was identified through a torrent site associated with an illegal download of the Coen Bros. film "True Grit".  I'll take the 5th on that one.

This was a few months ago, the last time I used torrent sites for anything other than live recordings from taper-friendly bands.

Be careful.

[BH]

I have a friend who got a warning for downloading HBO shows from his ISP months ago.   

[mjk73]

I got one for downloading a show that isn't even available in the states and isn't even on Region 1 DVD.

[capt. scotty]

Sticky's probably already been abducted by the feds

[mjk73]

Sticky's probably already been abducted by the feds

Probed? Possibly

[subinai]

aarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

[YouAre_GivenToFly]

FUCK YOU COMCAST.

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

I'm not worried at all right now.  not yet.  the laws are too vague for them to hit you with anything. the most they're going to do is throttle you or redirect you to that page.  whoop dee doo dah.  if you have an unsecured wireless router there is no way in hell that they can prove in court without a responsible doubt you were the one who downloaded that shit personally.  family homes for instance, things like xbox live or PS3 which hackers have been relentlessly fucking with since they banned linux or whatever.  no matter what laws are put in place, no matter what threats are made information is free now, media is free now.  they would literally have to sue over half the population of the united states.  and maybe that's the plan, who knows.

deny deny deny.  another good suggestion on how to not get caught is to not seed at all.  hit and run that shit like no other if you can.  they're looking for constant flowing traffic.  like blantantly obvious stuff like 18+ hours of using your maximum bandwidth.  like with drugs they're looking for the people who run the release groups.  I'd protest any letter that was sent to me.  worst case scenario the hackers would have my back.  it's a revolution the only reason this got passed is our bullshit 2010 young gun congress.  fucking dipshits will suck any billionaires dick for some of that trickle down. 

the bill went thru silently.  when it was introduced 11senate members were for it, then bam it passed.  I think even Obama backed the bill.  the corporations are dooping the government into thinking it's in the interest of security.  that and I think they're trying to claim rights to any and all digital content as if it were a physical thing.  which it's not.  there's no sweat shop like nike uses, there's nobody working in the fields.  it's some rich middle man jacking up costs of something that barely even exists.  mp3's aren't even cd quality and they charge you just as much already. 

with netflix and stuff that uses bandwidth via the tv I'd assume these networks are really starting to get pushed to their limits.  bandwidth is going to become electronic gas for our computers. 

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

What kind of privacy settings do you guys have on your computer.  what firewall are you using, what antivirus/web protection software, what browser, what sites are you using.  all important factors.

[el_chode]

Here's a way to help:

Download Peer Guardian, or the most recent version of it (Windows is newer). Warning: installing this may cause some websites to malfunction (Steam Engine, for one).

Use Firefox and install a program called Ghostery, Better Privacy, and if you want to really mess around, Tor.

That will help somewhat in reducing your online profile.

One last thing to do is use a torrent client like Transmission. It also helps block traffic.

Remember, Torrents are legal technology and have legitimate purposes. So far, every case before the Supreme Court since the 1980s has said you cannot make a legitimate technology illegitimate because of the nefarious purposes of some users. That is why this is so disgusting, it creates a quasi-private judicial system where you're guilty until proven innocent and have no rights or remedies. Even the DMCA provides you with a bit of chance of having your rights preserved.

This action had me so pissed off I took the time to write a blog post on my goddamn iPhone. That's a lot of words for one really wide thumb that was shaking from anger.

Some say "so what? if you just buy the stuff you've got nothign to worry about"

This is the biggest threat to creativity out there. Who is going to share legitimate content if it is a bit too close to something that Disney stole from the Public Domain nearly 100 years ago?

This is either a failure of our Government to do what's right and give the FCC and FTC the teeth needed to take action, or just one more piece of evidence that Congress is more concerned with Obama not getting re-elected than whether or not you've got a job or the right to be secure in your network traffic from what amounts (and I'd argue can be construed as) a felony wiretap on behalf of the MAFIAA

[e_wind]

Without reading everything, I use Transmission and set my upload speed to 0, and according to my brother that means I won't get caught. Who knows

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

well said chizneizneode, I always enjoy your posts related to justice and law.  read the text blog and dug that too.  definitely agree on a lot of levels.   never used peer guardian what's that all about.  never heard of transmission either. or ghostery. 

my setup is as follows firefox->adblock plus, better privacy, foxy proxy (occasion use).

note: if you want to mess with proxies search google for "proxy lists" and you should get an IP and port that you put into the little foxy proxy thing and bam new ip.  choose which country you would like to surf from.  the proxy server is the most ancient and consistent form of anonymity on the net. they are good way to sneak by IP bans if you don't have a router.

besides clearing your cookies and blocking ads and pop ups the best you can it's important to never browse with internet explorer. ever.  it is the single worst piece of shit on the net.  if you're going to get hacked it's most likely going to be via internet explorer.

"I want my system perfect".  okay, let's see what we can do to customize your setup.

virus/spyware/security software:
first I suggest malwarebytes.  http://www.malwarebytes.org/ update it and even those it recommends a quick scan do a full scan.  if there is shit on your computer it will find it.

the antivrius/firewall I use is ESET 4.something. smart security sweet.  it can be quick fierce. slows your start up time down a little bit but is worth it.  never even scan with it.  maybe once everything 3 or 4months.  it's solid as fuck.  I have a site that updates serials   so you don't have to use the shitty patch, pm if you want it..

registry mechanic 9.0 - this will speed your computer up and fix a lot of errors.

for bittorrent I use utorrent.  it's juicy and I like it that way. 

the only public tracker I use is btjunkie.  the rest is a gigantic virus. 

and finally the wondrous IP change.  the thing that makes me feel the most safe.

I only know how to do this on a cisco linksys router but I'm sure you can do on any other one if you youtube it.  here's how you change your IP:

if you would like to know your ip go to www.whatismyip.com

1.) log into router, (generic: 192.168.1.1)
it will ask for a password, default is generally admin.  leave username blank.  it should log you in to the router.

2.) go to "Mac Address".  when you go here there will be boxes with characters 00-99 and AA-FF.  there will be a button that says "Clone Address" or something like that.  click it. 

3.) after you click clone, change the # and letter combinations up top to whatever you want.  in the first box you will only be allowed to use numbers.  it will look something random like (24,AC,D4,etc) whatever you type, it doesn't matter.

4.) hit save.

you will now be disconnected from the internet.  This is okay.

5.) go to your router and internet cable box.  shut them both off. if your cable modem has a back up battery take it out so it's for sure off.

6.) plug router back in first,

7.) plug cable modem back in.

8,) now go to whatismyip.com and you will see your IP has changed which means your ISP recognizes you as brand new user/computer.

badda boom badda bing.  it's easier that my drunk stoned ass makes it sound.  I've done it hundreds of times.  it's kinda sad really.  party on hoe bags.

[el_chode]

Ghostery makes you a ghost on the Internet by preventing a lot of tracking scripts, cookies, and other codes on websites from logging your website visits. It is very useful if you use facebook and don't want to know what your friends thought about the website you're currently on (that always creeps me out).

PeerGuardian blocks sniffers and other traffic from monitoring what goes in and out of your computer. It's scary to run because when you start it up and run a torrent program, even if its legit traffic you see you're being spied on from universities, the Chinese Government, the EU, Sweden, France, Belgium, Comcast, Time Warner, USCG (US Copyright Group), etc. All of which are looking at what you're transmitting.

[el_chode]

And thanks for the props on the ol blogger, sticky