Will propose federal legislation requiring them to send a warning letter to customers if they access pirated content.In an antipiracy panel held last Thursday before a gathering of members of the US Chamber of Commerce in Hollywood, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Los Angeles) has stated his intention to introduce legislation that would require ISPs to send a warning letter to subscribers if they access pirated material on the internet. Berman said that he intends to introduce the bill along with a cosponsor Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) through the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. Apparently the legislation is intended to be part of a broader bill aimed at "strengthening" anticounterfeiting efforts and will mandate that federal agents enforce intellectual property violations by ISPs. It will also require interagency cooperation and begin the use of international attaches to provide information on antipiracy efforts. Berman said that there would be a "phase-in period for ISPs to notify subscribers, " and that "Initially, it would be a voluntary program," but it's unclear what happens to customers who continue to access pirated content after receiving an initial warning letter. My guess is that if it does become law that users names and addresses may be formally submitted to copyright holders who would then undoubtedly pursue them for copyright infringement and a recoupment of damages incurred. But, what makes the matter particularly troubling is that ISPs are suddenly deputized into enforcing content filtering mechanisms for which they have little expertise or competence in handling. Furthermore, there is no effective way for ISPs to determine if content being shared is copyright-protected or not without actually downloading it to find out, or if the person sharing it has expressed permission from the copyright holder to do so as is the case with video download services like BitTorrent Inc.'s video download store. Also, it's also unclear if even merely just STREAMING copyrighted content without proper permission of the copyright holder will be allowed under the legislation, but judging by the popularity of sites like TVLInks and YouTube a provision covering this may just be too much for the ISPs to handle. Considering that most ISPs are having trouble simply increasing bandwidth and network capacity due to manpower and funding shortages do we really need such a worthless and impossible diversion to drag down our networks even further? I guess the US government really does love its losing battles. It makes me wonder too however, whether or not the comments of Limewire's Chairman, Mark Groton, were an impetus for this decision with his recent comments before the House Oversight and Govt Reform Committee. He mentioned that "...currently, no effective enforcement mechanisms exist to address illegal behavior on P2P networks." He then pointed out how ISPs are a "unique point of control" that could do as Universities do and monitor illegal behavior on their network and then disconnect users "who ignore multiple warnings." Amazingly, he then suggests that "Similar policies could be mandated for all ISP’s in the United States. Groton finished his sentiments by observing that ISPs prefer "...not(to) have an enforcement relationship with their paying customers." His solution for this is simple: mandated "...establishment of moderate, yet effective enforcement mechanisms to combat illegal behavior on the Internet." Now whether or not Groton's statements in any way helped Berman's decision to try and get ISPs to police their networks is unclear, but they certainly didn't hurt it either. Either way, let's just hope Congress is good at it's usual habit of failing to get much accomplished. Looking for more stuff to watch or download?Limewire: 'Congress Should Make ISPs Filter Copyrighted Content'US Copyright Laws Bringing New Meaning to 'Long Arm of the Law'Computer Security Expert Testifies that the RIAA Can't Identify Users by IP AddressTorrentSpy's Attorney Wants an 'Evolution' for US Copyright Law
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Lest he FORGET....It was HIS COMPANY that has also contributed to file sharing. So that is just the pot calling the kettle black.
But I do not think ISP's will ever be able to be held responsible for filesharing, because that has been tried and tried and it has always failed to go into law.
I make a prediction that it will fail miserably this time also....the RIAA and MPAA are no longer as "powerful" in the public eye as they once were and now they are becoming despised by their "sue 'em all" campaign, by even some in congress.
The easiest form of opposition is blateantly ingnoring the law on a massive scale.
Share more download more problem solved.
It is the one who opposes the law who makes changes in the law it aint the guy that sits back and say shucks.
-infringer-