MPAA Also Likes The Idea Of ISP Enforcers For File Sharing

from the well,-duh dept

Mon, Dec 29th 2008 2:21pm — Mike Masnick

In a story that will surprise, um, well, none of you, Broadband Reports points us to an Ars Technica piece with an MPAA representative claiming "Hey, us too!" on a plan involving ISPs kicking file sharers off for accusations of file sharing. This, of course, follows the widespread reports about the RIAA's supposed agreements with ISPs (though not all ISPs are happy with the plan). While the RIAA got lots of press for it, the MPAA seems to have a better handle on the PR spin of such a program -- calling it a "graduated response" rather than a "three strikes" policy. By "graduated" they basically mean "scold, scold, lose your internet connection." I guess that's graduated.

Of course, none of the big questions about such a program are addressed by the MPAA (or the RIAA, for that matter), but it's almost comically endearing to see the MPAA claim that this is a "win/win/win" program -- where consumers are considered "winners" because they're not getting sued. In all honestly, this is a lose/lose/lose strategy. The MPAA would lose because it would make it that much more difficult for the industry to wake up and embrace newer and better business models. ISPs would lose by having to spend time and resources supporting the entertainment industry's quixotic fight to stop file sharing. Consumers would lose because it would effectively remove a great and inexpensive way of both watching and distributing more movies. Hell, even the lawyers would lose because they'd have fewer lawsuits to file. Who actually wins? Beats me.

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Filed Under: graduated response, movies, three strikes
Companies: mpaa

21 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2008 @ 3:04pm

Its alright, i will move to a third world country soon.

that way, RIAA & MPAA can forget even some kind of a remote possibility of earning anything from me.

I do hope that RIAA & MPAA burn in their own feces rather soon.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2008 @ 3:34pm

the parasite companies that are in business to catch people like media defenders, and the congresspeople that get pay outs forcing isps into submission. these are the winners
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2008 @ 3:36pm

the MPAA can kiss my left nut along with the RIAA on the right one.

NOT 1 CENT!
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pat donovan, 29 Dec 2008 @ 3:59pm

riaa
three strikes and you're out?

how 'bout vexious lawsuits, three strikes and you're a persistenet= annoyance?

BAN these idiots...

pat
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Thomas, 29 Dec 2008 @ 4:01pm

Why?
Why should the ISPs do this? Do they get paid? And kicking people off for "accusations"? No proof? Just a nice e-mail from RIAA saying "user xxx is sharing music - kick them off"? And suppose the RIAA gets someone kicked off for sharing legal content? Every time I read about a new initiative for **AA I want to scream and thow things at them.
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Monarch, 29 Dec 2008 @ 4:05pm

I can see it now. The ISP's will send an email to the email address they created for you, or made you create when you signed up for the service, to give you a warning. After 3 warnings to the email address, that you even forgot what it was, your service is cut off. Will that produce a lawsuit or what?

I know I have a Comcast email account, because I had to create one to activate the service for some reason. But for the life of me, I don't remember what it was or is.
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Reed, 29 Dec 2008 @ 4:18pm

Time to talk
I really think now is the time to demand that everyone has a "right" to access the Internet that cannot be abridged by any entity.

The Internet has become a valuable source of information and stored documents and by denying access you are taking away someones ability to function in our modern society.

Just try to get companies to actually mail you forms nowadays, they will all just tell you to log on and get it yourself. How can you then deny someone's right to access this information that is critical for survival??

This is a slippery slope without a doubt and will be used by powerful corporations/governments as a tool to control who can succeed and who gets left behind.

RIAA and the MPAA are treading on some extremely dangerous grounds without a single compelling reason. They still have NEVER proven that they loose even a single cent to piracy. We just have to take there word that people are avoiding paying them when in reality many people would never pay for their content regardless of Internet technologies.

Mark my words, this is a fight to the death. The only question is what is going to die. Our rights or the RIAA and MPAA. I vote for the later!
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2008 @ 4:25pm

Im ready to pull the plug, just what the riaa and the mpaa want, NO CHANCE ASSHOLES
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2008 @ 4:26pm

Im downloading a torrent application and going to town, FUCK'em!
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David T, 29 Dec 2008 @ 4:38pm

Profit motive for ISPs?
If the RIAA's new approach is successful, I suspect a large number of people will be out of an Inet connection. When ISPs start trimming upward of 10+ percent of their consumer base, isn't that going to come back to bite them in quarterly earnings reports?

Not to mention that it creates an opportunity for competing ISPs to build a customer base that is hostile to the ISP that booted them.

The more I think about it, this seems insane. If Verizon kicked me off my $80/mo FiOS line for "alleged" movie downloading, there is no way in hell I would buy their cell phone service, cable TV service, or any other products/services. AND I would hate them and their associates on a visceral level.

Big ISPs don't have the benefit of hiding behind a trade organization. What are they thinking?
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Jim A, 29 Dec 2008 @ 6:08pm

Re: Profit motive for ISPs?
David T has it to a T. No sane business model exists for the ISPs to support the RIAA. The RIAA's plan is that the ISP will cut off it's own revenue from phone, TV, cell, and internet services in exchange for serious negative customer reactions. If you believe that I have some BMIS shares to sell.
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Thomas, 29 Dec 2008 @ 6:24pm

Great opportunity for competition..
Just imagine how much fun Comcast could have if they could get a list of Verizon FIOS subscribers and then find a way to make **AA believe that these Verizon users are uploading tons of movies/music and **AA gets the users booted from Verizon and then Comcast swoops in and gets new customers!
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2008 @ 8:40pm

MPAA and AT&T already busy?
TFA says:
"Ars has learned that the Motion Picture Association of America has been having similar discussions with US ISPs for some time and has already been involved in trial projects."
Take a look at this from October 22nd, apparently sent to someone from AT&T:
http://sharethefiles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=748626
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2008 @ 11:38pm

"Just imagine how much fun Comcast could have if they could get a list of Verizon FIOS subscribers "

Who says they need a list of subscribers. All they need is a block of IP addresses. They can get that in 5 seconds.
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bikey, 30 Dec 2008 @ 1:54am

Re: moving to 'third world' country
It would be nice if they so burned, but as for you finding salvation in TWC, forget it, unless you plan to stay in that place forever. Once the secret ACTA comes into force, your every electronic possession will be searched at every border for evidence of 'illegal' downloads (which could be anything you didn't write yourself).
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bikey (profile), 30 Dec 2008 @ 1:56am

Re: Why?
Of course they get paid. That's what it's about. Thank Sarkozy's pillow talk for this one. One whisper from Carla and it's (almost) French law. Another whisper from Sarkozy and it's (almost EU law). One more whisper...
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bikey (profile), 30 Dec 2008 @ 2:00am

fight to the death
It is indeed a fight to the death. The problem is the IP people are backed, or more correctly are backing the 'national security' people and with the info they collect together, users barely have a chance. We must first realize how powerful this duo in violating our privacy and our right to the internet (yes, it is time for this) before we can develop an effective strategy to combat it.
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Mark Regan, 30 Dec 2008 @ 2:23am

Line Up, Everybody
1. Big Brother -- who will ask the ISPs to deny service to anyone who downloads child porn, so they don't have to go through the trouble of investigating and prosecuting them, jailing them, and feeding them until they die.

2. Bank Collectors -- who will ask the ISPs to deny service to anyone who doesn't pay them, so they can really bring their customers to their knees. As more folks rely upon the internet for their income, the banks can use the ISPs to force their customers to pay up or else. It sure beats breaking knees or extortion. One email, and pretty soon, here's a call from the customer -- but I need my internet to pay my rent, use my phone, etc.

3. Repo Men -- who will PAY the ISPs for the GPS data on your PDA so they can find where you hid your car today.

4. Your Ex-Wife -- who will claim that it's not fair for you to have internet when your alimony check is late.

You get the idea. Pretty soon, everyone will quit using the internet because of all the privacy violations, and we'll be back to the stone ages sending smoke signals across town. By the way, can you tell me what all those tiny puffs of smoke mean? Three small ones, three long ones, then three small ones again.
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Twinrova, 30 Dec 2008 @ 4:37am

Re: Line Up, Everybody
Damn you! Beat me to the punch with the "line up" reply!
;)

Some more:
5. Photographers and graphic designers: We're tired of people stealing our images without compensation.

6. Big Business: We're tired of people stealing our IP with their damn "fan art".

7. Churches: "The internet is the devil (but come to our website to donate)!" (This one's the damn scariest)

8. Australia: For visiting their websites and bypassing their filter.

9. The IRS: If you can't pay your taxes, we'll take away part of the reason why.
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Rekrul, 30 Dec 2008 @ 6:59am

I'm sure that AT&T will glady be doing this. After all, they originally had plans to filter their network for copyrighted material, and now they've started introducing metered usage with ridiculously low monthly caps. It's obvious that they don't actually want people using their service.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2008 @ 9:12am

What about my reasonable right to privacy?

As with any crime transaction occurring over a phone line typically require a court order. To me this would mean the the police should just tell all ISP to filter all content for illegal activity and when it is noticed they should report it so you can be locked up with out a court processing (easy and efficient).
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