CCI Claims Six Strikes Working Great To Thwart Piracy, Offers Absolutely No Evidence To Support That Claim
from the hard-data-is-optional dept
It has been about a year since the Center for Copyright Information (CCI) launched the United States' "six strikes" anti-piracy notification system with the help of the nation's largest ISPs. The service varies slightly by ISP, with carriers either briefly throttling your connection or temporarily locking you behind a "click through" walled garden unless you acknowledge receipt of some "educational" materials on copyright (not surprisingly, concepts like fair use are excluded). Any costs of this additional ISP clerical work are obviously passed on to broadband subscribers.Since launch there has been absolutely no data released on how many people have been sent warnings, how many people have proceeded through all of the layers, and no consumer feedback has been shared on their experiences with the program. ISPs refuse to talk whatsoever about the program, and we've seen absolutely no data on how effective the program's appeals systems for the falsely accused (who have to pay $35 for the honor of protesting their innocence) have been.
As such, the CCI has announced that they're very happy to declare that the program has been a smashing success at thwarting piracy, with absolutely no data to back those suggestions up whatsoever:
"A national effort to crack down on Internet piracy through a "six strikes" system is seeing success, according to the program's director...Jill Lesser, who runs the system as manager of the Center for Copyright Information, said fears about the system were misplaced..."It's a non-punitive system" that is "intended to be education-based," Lesser told The Hill in an interview...There were "early examples of positive feedback," said Lesser said, adding that she hopes more analysis will show that Internet providers sent out more first and second notices and fewer fifth and sixth notices, which would demonstrate that users stopped sharing infringing content."Yes, your fears have been misplaced and the program is clearly working, and to prove it, the only evidence we'll offer you is -- our claim that your fears have been misplaced and the program is clearly working. While the CCI hasn't been willing to release any data, traffic headed to BitTorrent networks has either remained static or increased, and overall shared files on websites like The Pirate Bay have increased. One problem CCI will face when trying to show data (should that actually ever happen) on the program is that many BitTorrent users have simply moved toward BitTorrent proxy and VPN services in order to hide themselves from the watchful eye of their ISPs. Those users would show up as no longer being copyright infringers, when in reality they'd simply be hiding their network behavior.
It's not a stretch to imagine that whatever data gets released, it will somehow magically show that the program is not only a smashing success, but that the entertainment industry is justified in expanding it further. As it stands, nothing happens to users after the sixth strike, and nobody tracks users who move from ISP to ISP. As such, it's only a matter of time before more great ideas get introduced. How about a ban on VPNs and proxies? How about a taxpayer-funded organization that tracks offenders across ISPs? Fines for those who reach the sixth level? Our non-transparent data clearly shows that all these things are necessary. Trust us.
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Filed Under: copyright, piracy, six strikes, throttling
Companies: cci
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I have not
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The $35 fee to prove our innocence, is also 'voluntary'. You don't have to pay it, unless you 'volunteer' too.
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Wow...
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Be careful what you wish for....
And we'll have to get serious punishment, the kind given to every other kind of lawbreaker. Illegal parkers get worse fines than these bozos. Illegal parkers have less recourse and it's easier to forge a license plate than an IP address.
Face it. Be careful what you wish for. If this doesn't work, we'll bring back the real punishment.
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
No one wants punishment without due process...except for you.
But then again, knowing that's what you got from reading all the comments, I don't expect you to understand this one any better.
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
To be charged and punished for illegal parking also requires that the matter go to court(should the recipient of the ticket contest it), prove the guilt of the accused, with the accused being able to defend themselves, and then, only after guilt has been proven, is a punishment handed out.
Contrast that with a 'strikes' system, where simply being accused is enough to get a strike, you cannot contest the strikes until you've accumulated enough of them, and the 'court' is replaced with an 'arbitration' system, which are, more often than not, going to side with the accuser, not the accused, since if the accuser isn't happy with past 'rulings', they can always find another arbitration group/'court' who will be more 'reasonable' to them.
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
However, having your internet cut off on an "guilty until proven innocent" basis is better than going to jail on that basis imho.. So I guess it's a step forward? It's hard to tell, I think the stepper is drunk.
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
[citation needed]
it's easier to forge a license plate than an IP address.
You kinda lose what little shred of credibility you have with that laughably ridiculous claim.
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Re: Re: Be careful what you wish for....
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Re: Re: Re: Be careful what you wish for....
You don't even need a sharpie, or to even get off your bum to change your IP address..
In most case you just reboot your modem and get a new address from your ISP's DHCP.. Its all automated don't worry..
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
Even if your premise was accurate (which, as the other commenters pointed out, it isn't), this wouldn't be an example of that.
This is punishing people without even a minimal burden of proof and no recourse against false accusations. (Having to pay money in order to have the "right" to defend yourself, and even then being prohibited from using certain legitimate defenses is NOT recourse).
Regardless of one's opinion on copyright law, I am amazed that anyone could consider this anything like just.
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
Yeah. If there's one thing we need more of, it's more campaigning against car organisations that recklessly dish out replacement dynamic license plates for people who get out of their cars and back in again.
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
First, the whole point of the article is that nobody knows if it's working or not because nobody is releasing any data. The lack of any data proving success would strongly suggest failure.
Second, who is this "we" you speak of? And why would anyone "bring back" methods that failed so spectacularly before?
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Re: Be careful what you wish for....
Yeah, and murderers/rapists get smaller penalties than anyone convicted of anything digitally; you want to rant about that too?
bob just hates it when due process is enforced.
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Wait, in what alternate dimension are you living where users can easily switch between multiple ISPs? And can I come?
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That might explain why I've never experienced shitty service from the monopolist-wannabes at Comcast that I always hear about in other parts of the country. They actually have to compete for customers here in Seattle, even though the other four don't wield as much influence on a national level.
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Sounds to me like they need to "massage" the numbers then...
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It really annoys me that people use bittorrent as a measure of copyright infringement. You might has well measure general internet traffic.
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radio silence
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Re: radio silence
Are there any reports of people getting notices?
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Re: Re: radio silence
We never got anything for stuff we actually did download.
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Re: radio silence
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-625000-copyright-alerts-140207/
I live in Comcastland: I have trouble believing that 3% of Comcast's customers got a piracy warning and didn't talk in public about it.
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Re: Re: radio silence
You have trouble believing not everyone brags about their lawbreaking? Like the dbags that do on tech blogs? Ok.
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Re: Re: Re: radio silence
DMCA vote!
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Re: radio silence
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Re: radio silence
Every now and then you'll see comments on TPB about a torrent being monitored and getting a letter from Comcast or another ISP, but its hard to rely on those comments.
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Nor have I heard of a single solitary soul in my area that has ever heard from the 6 strikes business.
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Of course that's going to happen. After the ISPs see that the first four notices change nothing, they will decide that the whole thing is a waste of money, and they, won't bother to send the last couple of notices.
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1 year running.
This is what failure looks like.
Millions of dollars spent on a system designed to create new "law" that the corporations demand be in place to stave of their bankruptcy all while having record years.
A system still not vetted by an expert, who was never on the RIAA payroll before, and looking forward to continuing income "monitoring" the program.
Using a software package that clearly states how they are using it is in violation of the TOS.
A system fronted by someone who's claim to fame is she worked for AOL.
An advocate supposed to be representing the rights of the citizens who parrots the party line of holding someone accountable because they pay a bill is perfectly fine.
A system run by a company so "good" at what they do they DMCA'd a client's own website trying to sell content to consumers as pirated material.
Of course they are going to claim the system works, otherwise the labels & artists might question why the fsck they keep pouring money into these **AA pipedreams that NEVER EVER work as promised.
In the same time and for probably less money, they could have created a system that pwned the crap out of everything else out there to sell content at the price the market wants and made another fortune. Instead they focus on the illusion that they have a right to keep control over what people do with what they purchase, rather than remember they are in the business of selling content to consumers.
The next time a lawmaker proposes that tax dollars support this industry, perhaps it would be best to ask why.
Record sales, record profits, record salaries, and enough money left over to waste on shit programs all while staying the course with a business model everyone else can see is outdated and in trouble.
Here's to CCI.
You've lied, and lied, and lied all while you're being paid for doing jack shit to "solve" a problem by using a Rube Goldberg machine. That "problem" could easily have been solved for much less time and money had you just told the emperor he is naked. But good on you for subverting the legal system with your own kangaroo court.
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Only 1 notice
So since I was already being treated like a criminal, I decided to try out this piracy thing. It was awesome! Now I do all my pirating through a VPN.
That 6-strikes thing worked out great for me.
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