Did The Recording Industry Really Step Back From Three Strikes? Or Is It Playing Word Games?

from the don't-buy-it dept

Fri, Jun 10th 2011 5:15am — Mike Masnick

A bunch of folks have been submitting the story from TorrentFreak claiming that representatives from Music Industry Piracy Investigations -- an anti-piracy group representing the major labels in Australia -- has said that it no longer favors three strikes laws, following theUN report that condemned such measures as a violation of civil rights. I didn't report on this at first, but since people keep submitting it, I figured I might as well comment on it: and I think the story is wrong. From the sound of things, I think the MIPI folks may have pulled a fast one. The key line is the quote from MIPI general manager Sabiene Heindl that it supports "mitigation measures" concerning infringement, but that "such measures would not include termination of Internet accounts."

Now, clearly, that might sound like backing away from three strikes, but I don't think it does. That's because we saw nearly the same thing a year and a half ago in the debate in the UK over the Digital Economy Act, where politicians supporting the Act, which is a variation on "three strikes" fought back against the public campaign against the Act by declaring that "disconnection" was no longer on the table. But, really, they were just playing word games. What they meant was permanent disconnection wasn't on the table, but it wasn't really ever in the bill. They were still very much in favor of so-called "temporary account suspension" which could last six months or more in some cases.

In other words, it's a terminology issue more than anything else. Many people are concerned about any internet access account loss, and consider a six month suspension to be pretty bad. But to avoid the dreaded "termination" or "disconnection" buzzword, supporters of three strikes now like to claim that their plans include no such thing -- instead it's just a "temporary account suspension." I'm guessing that this is exactly what the MIPI folks meant by saying they don't favor termination, but do favor mitigation. That mitigation might just turn out to be a "temporary" account suspension for three strikes. So, my sense is that this story is overblown. MIPI has carefully chosen language to make it seem not as extreme and to not anger as many people, but it could still very much support three strikes... just for extended "temporary" disconnections.

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Filed Under: australia, disconnections, three strikes

25 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 5:42am

I'm still confused as to why the recording industry sticks so firmly to baseball analogy as the solution...
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:36am
  
  Re:
  Especially when a car analogy would work so well: "We're going to suspend your license to drive on the information superhighway until you learn the proper rules of the road!"
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  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 7:11am
    
    Re: Re:
    I'm getting really tired of the "rules of the road" so called "analogy". It's such a stupid analogy. You can't get killed by copying files.
    
    The big content shills just came out with one of the worst possible "analogies" and tried to shoehorn it on copyright infringement. Well, guess what : IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!
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    - Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 8:09am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      What about a pillow fight analogy ...
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      - Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 8:11am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Or maybe we need a water gun analogy.
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- Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:54am
  
  Re:
  They couldn't come up with their own term so they stole it from someone else. For shame! =]
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 7:08am
  
  Re:
  Hey, if it makes sense in baseball..it clearly makes sense in copyright infringement, too! Plus "3" is such a cool number. Why wouldn't it be appropriate?
  
  /s
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 7:32am
  
  Re:
  For the same reason you have a patriot act: who's going to oppose a law that has a Baseball reference? Are you unpatriotic?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 8:12am
    
    Re: Re:
    IP maximists are so unsophisticated.
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  - Any Mouse (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 2:52pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Baseball sucks. Just about as boring as golf.
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DannyB (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 5:59am

The fundamental mistake
The mistake is to assume that what they say and what they do are consistent.

If you assume that what they do is the complete opposite of what they announce, then you won't go wrong.
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DannyB (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:01am

A prison sentence is also 'temporary' disconnection from life
Even a lifetime prison sentence for downloading a file is only temporary. Eventually your body will be removed from the prison.
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mike allen (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:12am

Even if they do disconnect someone I can see ways round it jumping someone else'sa wi fi hot spot even a mobile account etc so it will never work.you cannot keep some one of line even for a day.
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- PaulT (profile), 11 Jun 2011 @ 1:35am
  
  Re:
  Indeed. It's the same issue as with DRM and any of the other measures they put in place - they will only affect the innocent or the most vulnerable.
  
  Live in a city and get your access cut off? No problem, switch provider, hop on someone else's for a while, wardrive for open hotspots or use a point located at a business that doesn't check what you're doing with their wifi (most of them).
  
  Run an online business from home out in the sticks with only one ISP choice? Tough, your business can die in the name of "protecting" theirs. Bonus points for flimsy and easily faked evidence having been used to cut you off in the first place. Actual damage to the innocent in revenge for potential and unproven damage to a big corporation.
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Ninja (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:14am

That. Although I do welcome the 'change of heart' from MAFIAA I was wondering where the trick was. And there's the fact that the UN and nothing are pretty much the same as long as there's enough political or financial motivation.

We need to see the future developments.
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taoareyou, 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:27am

Question
Who will pay the ISP for each account they suspend or disconnect? Removing Internet access is certainly affecting their business model.
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- DannyB (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:37am
  
  Re: Question
  The ISP loses this business upon the mere accusation of piracy. No proof required.
  
  You could never ever pirate anything. All it takes is three accusations to get you disconnected.
  
  Hey, that gives me an idea . . .
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:46am

But the recording industry still needs to make money, why doesn't anyone feel there pain. What has the internet got against them? ;D
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- Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:57am
  
  Re:
  The internet is a cold-hearted bitch! =]
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Andrew (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 6:57am

Someone said this and I found it amusing actually (It could very well be this site so sorry if I am stealing anyone's thought but it was a good thought).

When will the UN declare that having an internet connection is a necessity. Way back in the day when phones started coming out the powers that be realized it was a necessity. We are tied so much to the internet these days. From banking online, to paying for things, twitter, facebook...the list goes on and on. Taking away that from someone is almost tantamount to severing an arm or something (and as one person earlier rightly commented you can't stop someone from going online even if you temporarily suspend their account, between internet cafes and phones its next to impossible).

Three strikes is a really bad bad bad way for dealing with piracy. I hope someone realizes this soon and lets it die.

Oh and if anyone wants to read something interesting take a look. It kind of puts things into perspective to how bad service in America for the internet really is:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-internet-access-in-america-disaster/
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- Jay (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 7:18am
  
  Re:
  Damn... Cracked has everything.
  
  I'm expecting an article to read "5 ways to insult a tech-nerd's mom" to pop up soon.
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- Tor (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 7:47am
  
  Re:
  "When will the UN declare that having an internet connection is a necessity."
  
  Maybe you'd be interested in this Wired article: U.N. Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right.
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  - Andrew (profile), 10 Jun 2011 @ 11:26am
    
    Re: Re:
    Why thank you that was definitely an interesting read...Did not know they declared that lol...
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2011 @ 8:08am

"but it could still very much support three strikes... just for extended "temporary" disconnections."

Well, copyright lasts for a limited time, right?
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- Justin Olbrantz (Quantam), 10 Jun 2011 @ 10:54pm
  
  Re:
  Temporary disconnection for life of the offender plus 70 years? That might be the most brilliant thing the three-strikes proponents have ever heard.
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