Would The Entertainment Industry Follow A Three Strikes Rule Itself?

from the three-strikes-and-*you're*-out dept

The entertainment industry has been increasingly pressuring ISPs to be copyright cops. The "three strikes" approach being pushed in France, the UK, Australia and possibly Canada is one of the more extreme attempts which would have unauthorized file sharers kicked off the internet entirely. Cory Doctorow asks if such companies would accept their own rule with a three-strikes-and-you're-out policy for sending out erroneous copyright notices -- meaning that they lose their own access for sending out three bogus takedown notices. Given that organizations like the RIAA and MPAA have sent takedown notices to laser printers and believe that providing proof of infringement is too hard, why not cut them off from the internet too after three questionable takedowns? Doctorow's proposal is admittedly Swiftian; aside from being entertaining, it highlights the ridiculousness of the whole three-strikes-and-you're-off-the-internet idea. If the entertainment industry wants ISPs to impose a three strikes rule for improper usage, they shouldn't mind being held to the same standard.
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Filed Under: copyright, isps, takedowns, three strikes


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  1. identicon
    anony, 1 Jul 2008 @ 4:10pm

    Cox is doing it

    Don't know if there is a list of ISPs that are doing it already, but from personal experience I know that Cox Cable has implemented and is enforcing its "three strike" rule.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Vincent Clement, 1 Jul 2008 @ 5:55pm

    Re: Cox is doing it

    It's one thing for a company to enforce it's own rules. It's another thing when the government makes it the law.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    LTDLP, 1 Jul 2008 @ 6:14pm

    Thumbs Up

    Yes, that is a very sane proposal. Cory hits the bulleye.
    I'm guessing that the three strikes proponents are not up to the challenge however. If held to their own "rules" you would not hear the end of the wailing, screaming and whining about how unfair it all is.
    btw, how many ISPs are owned by these whiners ?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Not Bob, 1 Jul 2008 @ 6:30pm

    Not likely

    Sorry Mike,
    It seems you have forgotten that when a company/industry/government/person/{insert group here} gets to a certain size, it figures that all the rules are for others and they have no need to follow them themselves.

    Sort of like the "argument" that, "This isn't about us, it's about those thieving pirates."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    mike allen, 1 Jul 2008 @ 10:50pm

    I dont think it will work

    The three strikes rule first it will just piss off ISP customers. 2nd no one has given me the answear to one simple question that of Can they tell the differance between say BBC Iplayer and say Kazaa or other P2P download? i dont think they can. They all use bit torrants and i guess the BBC have copyrights on their shows. so i belive this to be another backfire for the record industry.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    anony, 1 Jul 2008 @ 11:17pm

    Re: Re: Cox is doing it

    The company in question is under legal pressure from other companies. Cox itself does not monitor its users and does not require proof of copyright infringement for a "strike" to count.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    James Gardiner, 2 Jul 2008 @ 3:31am

    Force it underground..

    Either way, P2P networks are going fully encrypted, so they cannot really tell what your shareing.

    And even if they did enforce this big time, it will simply force it underground. Wireless networks, etc, will pop up and users will simply start talking to each other without ISPs getting in the way.

    There is always a way around it. Up until the internet, I still knew a number of people who had a steady stream of pirate content. Not sure how they got it.. But, it is always going to happen.

    James

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Shohat, 2 Jul 2008 @ 3:58am

    Ahem

    So basically Cory is saying that a person that likes getting blowjobs, should also give blowjobs.

    This isn't Sparta.

    Did you just grab my ass ?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    JustMe, 2 Jul 2008 @ 5:39am

    Re: Shohat

    No, what they are saying is that if you make baby food, for example, you should be willing to occasionally taste the baby food yourself. If you have lax controls and think that things (heavy metals, rat feces, etc.) might have fallen in to the food and don't want to eat it yourself then perhaps you shouldn't sell it to babies.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    zealeus, 2 Jul 2008 @ 7:20am

    Charter

    Charter communications already does the 3-strikes rule, too. I've been in areas that use charter for the last 5 years, and I've only known one person in all that time to get a notice, so chances of getting 3 strikes isn't all that great.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Bad Analogy Guy, 2 Jul 2008 @ 5:01pm

    Re: Re: Shohat

    JustMe -> "what they are saying is that if you make baby food"

    Ahhh, and I thought my analogies were bad .....
    wow
    So ... the RIAA is mommy feeding the babies surfing the net some baby food and the RIAA should have to eat some too.

    I think the RIAA are the babies whining to mommy political court system for the big titty.

    Sheesh

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    oregonnerd, 4 Jul 2008 @ 10:47am

    three strikes

    No. If the analogy were to be fair...the RIAA would find out it had already violated the three-strikes rule and was headed to prison.

    ...Maybe we should just all go to prison and get training on laying cable, like the brits did...
    --Glenn
    8]

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Dean Landolt, 6 Jul 2008 @ 4:19pm

    RE: Shohat

    Interesting analogy Shohat -- I'll certainly have to borrow that...

    I agree that the relationship between the two isn't commutative. But frankly, I don't believe we'd need go to such extends as Doctorow proposes to demonstrate the absurdity of three-strikes: given strict enforcement and many eyes on them, it's unlikely many entertainment firms could go very long without being caught with their hand in the copyright cookie jar, violating someone's copyright one way or another.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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