Those systems involve major labels monitoring peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent for activities that fall under the category of copyright infringement. The labels will then report any user infringement activities to ISPs, who will then monitor those users’ networks. Once a user has been confirmed to be accessing pirated content, ISPs will then commence an "Initial Education step", where customers are formally notified that they're engaging in illegal activity. After one or two of these notices, they'll be issued another warning. Should none of those warnings prove effective, the ISP will then issue a Mitigation Measure Copyright Alert, which could potentially involve the throttling or restricting of the user’s connection (a total cut off is unlikely, however).
This RIAA / ISP pact is not something new, as they came to this so-called “Six Strikes” enforcement agreement back in June of 2011. This latest development is merely the implementation period coming into effect. However, these measures are by no means an all-encompassing crackdown on pirated content, as media downloaded using a VPN, from obscure torrent sites, or from media portals will likely be unaffected.
What do you think? Will these "education" measures help change file sharing habbits?
Leave your comments below.
This post is by regular Hypebot contributor and independent music business professional & musician, Hisham Dahud (@HishamDahud)
