03.27.2009
Channelweb: Are AT&T, Cox, Comcast Ratting Out Music Pirates?
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is stepping up its efforts to root out illegal music downloaders by working with Internet service providers instead of targeting individual users.
But after reports this week of involvement by AT&T, Cox and Comcast, the ISPs rushed to defend themselves, saying they were not ratting out suspected music pirates to industry chiefs and were not planning to terminate customers' service.
The RIAA has in the past few months changed its strategy for hunting music pirates: Instead of identifying individual file sharers, it said in December it would coordinate with "major ISPs" to locate suspected downloaders and kick off a process of warnings. That effort, which the RIAA calls a "graduated response," would eventually lead to cutting off their Internet access. The RIAA at the time did not name the ISPs or say when its new strategy would take effect.
On Tuesday, reports out of the Leadership Music Digital Summit in Nashville, Tenn., identified AT&T as cooperating with the RIAA by sending out warning notices to suspected illegal downloaders. Comcast Senior Vice President Joe Waz also said at the summit that his company had issued 2 million notices, but Comcast told Billboard and other sources Wednesday that doing so was not part of any new policy.
"Comcast, like other major ISPs, forwards notices of alleged infringement that we receive from music, movie, video game and other content owners to our customers," said Comcast in a statement issued to reporters.
A spokesperson from Cox also told news services that Cox has issued "hundreds of thousands of warnings" already and that Cox had also been sending out notifications before the RIAA announced its strategy shift.
AT&T went so far as to deny any "deal" between it and the RIAA, and said it had been testing a "procedure" for sending warning notices from copyright holders out to customers.
"Any suggestion that there is a deal between us and the RIAA is just bogus," said Jim Cicconi, AT&T's executive vice president for external affairs, to USA Today. "We will never suspend, terminate or sanction any customer without some sort of legal process, like a court order. That's been our policy for years and that's not going to change."
The RIAA and other recording industry organizations seem to have thrown in the towel on targeting individual suspected music pirates and are instead continuing to focus on the conduits for illegal downloading.
The Pirate Bay, a Swedish Bit Torrent site and one of the most popular Bit Torrent sites in the world, has been on trial since February, accused of assisting copyright violation by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
During that trial, the IFPI's chairman and CEO told Stockholm District Court Pirate Bay was the "No. 1 source of illegal music." A judge's decision in The Pirate Bay trial is expected on April 17.
03.26.2009
syberplanet.com: Cox, Comcast, AT&T Acknowledge Following New RIAA Anti-Piracy Policy
Last December, the RIAA announced it was giving up on file-sharing lawsuits, and would be working with ISPs in a three-strikes policy program which would eventually result in broadband being cut off for repeat offenders of illegal file-sharing. At a digital music conference in Nashville this week, AT&T's Jim Cicconi stated that the company has begun testing a such takedown notification system.
An industry insider told C|Net:
Cicconi told attendees of the Leadership Music Digital Summit that the notices are part of a "trial." AT&T wants to test customer reaction, he said. Whether AT&T included any warnings that repeat offenders would see their service suspended or terminated is still unclear. Music industry sources said AT&T told managers at the top labels the trial letter would include strong language about the consequences of illegal conduct, but would stop short of mentioning service interruptions.
This was the first time an ISP has admitted participating in the new policy. Previously, C|Net noted that AT&T and Comcast were likely to participate.
While AT&T was the first, they weren't the last. Later in the conference, on Wednesday, Joe Waz, a senior VP at Comcast, told the same conference attendees that the company has issued 2 million similar notices.
Additionally, sources told C|Net that Cox is also participating.
The source above said AT&T would not disconnect a user, as is what is supposed to happen after a "third strike" of file-sharing, and Comcast was careful at the conference to call this a "trial" program. This is likely just the first step towards the full-blown three-strikes policy.
Other countries have considered this sort of policy previously, but no "systemic" adoption of such a policy has taken place, yet.
03.25.2009
lockergnome.com: AT&T Working for the RIAA – Are they Getting a Cut?
After seeing the article on ZDNet about the RIAA, and the cooperation by AT&T, I remembered back in the bad old days of the Bush era, when AT&T was also the only one to bend us over for the NSA’s warrantless searches of our data. Is it any different now? AT&T seems to forget that they are a company that deals with the public. Perhaps they believe that their phone service is so superior that no one will, out of a sense of violation, end their service(s) with that company.
from ZDNet
It looks like the Recording Industry Association of America has deputized its first Internet Service Provider to police the Internet for music pirates.
CNET reports that AT&T is the the first to team with the RIAA following reports in December that the association would stop filing lawsuits and turn instead to the ISPs for help. Jim Cicconi, a senior executive at AT&T, reportedly told the audience at the Leadership Music Digital Summit that the ISP has begun issuing takedown notices as part of a “trial” to test customer reaction. CNET further reports:
Whether AT&T included any warnings that repeat offenders would see their service suspended or terminated is still unclear. Music industry sources said AT&T told managers at the top labels the trial letter would include strong language about the consequences of illegal conduct, but would stop short of mentioning service interruptions.
I’m no music pirate and have nothing to hide but suddenly I’m glad I switched from AT&T to Comcast a few months ago. If the RIAA hasn’t been able to curb piracy with its lawsuits, then maybe it needs to try a few different approaches. But getting the ISPs to do their dirty work is just plain wrong.
When news of the RIAA’s intentions surfaced late last year, we heard the story of the owner of a small ISP in Louisiana who refused to play by the RIAA’s games. Jerry Scroggin, owner-operator of Bayou Internet and Communications, told CNET last year: “They have the right to protect their songs or music or pictures. But they don’t have the right to tell me I have to be the one protecting it.”
I’m hoping that my ISP, Comcast, has Scroggin’s attitude about the RIAA’s latest tactics.
update 1: A report on Billboard.biz says that executives from both Comcast and AT&T have confirmed trial participation in the RIAA’s program. (So, I guess it is a good thing after all that I’m not a music pirate.) The report names both Cicconi and Comcast senior VP of external affairs and public policy Joe Waz as having discussed their companies involvement during the Leadership Music Digital Summit in Nashville.
However, an entry on a Wired’s Epicenter blog says that AT&T is now denying its participation.
I suspect there will be another update soon.
Update 2: Comcast, in an e-mailed statement, offered clarification of what it called some inaccuracies with the billboard.biz post:
Comcast, like other major ISPs, forwards notices of alleged infringement that we receive from music, movie, videogame, and other content owners to our customers. This is the same process we’ve had in place for years - nothing has changed. While we have always supported copyright holders in their efforts to reduce piracy under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and continue to do so, we have no plans to test a so-called ‘three-strikes-and-you’re-out’ policy.
I’m with the author, as I am not a pirate of music, but I don’t like this action one bit. fortunately, I already detested AT&T for other reasons, and feel no need to own an iPhone, so I will probably never have a need to use any services from AT&T.
I do believe in the concept of solidarity, and that companies should have integrity, so I try to not do business with those who do not show integrity. (This sometimes makes for some very tough choices.)
So the question remains – Is AT&T getting a cut of any recovered monies from the music pirates?
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