

US “Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Will Roll Out Gradually - nsns
http://torrentfreak.com/us-six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-will-roll-out-gradually-120713/

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linuxhansl
I am reminded of the facsimile of the frog. If thrown into hot water he will
jump out, but if thrown into cold water that is slowly heated he will die
without reacting.

These measures would have been unthinkable 10 or 15 years ago, yet we've to
come almost expect them.

Spying and snooping appears to be a one-way street where our privacy is slowly
eroded and the trend is never reversed (the excuses given for this vary, but
they always include at least one of "child porn", "terrorism", "IP violation",
or "organized crime").

"Those who sacrifice liberty for security will lose both and deserve neither."
- Benjamin Franklin

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penfro
The more savvy users will just sign-up for VPN or Usenet service. One 1TB of
SSL encrypted Usenet transfer from NewsgroupDirect for $40 is more than enough
for most people. Couple that with SABnzbd and NZBMatrix and you have a very
usable service out of the reach of the latest anti-piracy scheme. Amazing how
much of our rapid loss of liberties are attributed to the same 4 categories:
child pornography, terrorism, file-sharing, and organized crime.

~~~
alttab
I see those categories more as excuses. I refuse to believe societies decision
markers are that blind to basic human civility. There has to be a better way
to reduce harm from technology than turning the world into a gulag.

~~~
zanny
It is easy - digital content has no cost of distribution, replication, or
reproduction so charging for individual units is a failing model. So charge
elsewhere, such as at the point of creation, or as an inclusion on something
with per unit cost.

Basically, fund the creation of infinitely reproducible goods and release them
for free, either through ads, through investments or crowd-funding, or through
contracts.

We should be embracing how easy and cheap it is to replicate media of all
forms, not trying to prevent the physical realities of electric charge and
transistors.

~~~
alttab
Theoretically easy, I agree. We need to dislodge the dinosaur thugs that have
made this difficult. Unfortunately it seems as though their moral compass and
logic calibration is inversely proportional to their degree of desperation for
profit.

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paulsutter
Someone needs a way to audit this system. I'd like to see someone like the EFF
involved.

If done right this system could be an improvement over harsh penalties meted
out randomly. Harsh punishments for a few as a scare tactic aren't justice.
Reasonable penalties that are a higher probability are an improvement.

But it all depends on who is monitoring the monitors.

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batgaijin
The strike laws in France, NZ, UK, were all financed and supported by the __aa
and the us gov helped.

I remember feeling so great about seeing the confirmation in the wikileaks
docs. Sad to say I'm too lazy to find/post the reference on my phone.

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bediger4000
This makes no sense, it's like the State of New Jersey saying that the new
murder law will "roll out gradually". Only some convicted offenders will be
sentenced under the new law, while we work out the kinks. Eventually, all
convicted murderers will be subject to the same law. That's a recipe for
massive discontent, mainly because it's so unfair to those getting penalized
first.

It's also very "corporate IT". "The VP wants us to phase in the new credit
card processing system, because he doesn't want to lose the revenue if it
crashes". The ISPs in question decided to do "pilot roll-outs" of what the
techies know will be massively unpopular with the users.

~~~
noahc
I'm not sure your State analogy works. From what I can tell this is a private
party agreement, which is essentially a contract. It has nothing to do with
justice or laws of any sort.

You agreed that you wouldn't pirate content, when you signed up with your ISP.
Your ISP has the right to terminate your service, and so this is just
formalizing how that termination will take place with another party.

So what you're really saying is "Private Parties shouldn't be allowed to
gradually phase in contractual agreements". I think we can all agree that
regulating private contracts to this degree isn't something we want to see the
US government engaged in.

~~~
bediger4000
I'm saying that "phasing in" punitive measures, by any authority figure, under
any legal or moral basis, doesn't really sit well with the population subject
to those measures.

Human nature makes everyone who gets punished in an early phase very irritated
by the fact that others, not subject to the early phase, but to a later phase,
do NOT get punished for the same actions.

No lawyering or contractual fine points or legalistic thinking necessary.

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praxulus
I don't understand how this helps ISPs. If they aren't also cable TV
providers, what incentive do they have to cut off customers? Forwarding C&D
emails can't be _that_ expensive, can it?

~~~
wmf
Participating in six strikes may be cheaper than processing tons of subpoenas
from mass copyright lawsuits.

There's a long game being played here. It's possible that if ISPs had not
agreed to six strikes the MPAA/RIAA would have agitated for new laws which
would be even more expensive to lobby against/comply with.

~~~
glimcat
> It's possible that if ISPs had not agreed to six strikes the MPAA/RIAA would
> have agitated for new laws which would be even more expensive to lobby
> against/comply with.

I don't see where "giving in a little bit this time so they'll go away" makes
for a good long-term strategy. They'll just be back for more.

~~~
cabalamat
> They'll just be back for more.

Indeed. Maybe the ISPs should call the MAFIAA's bluff, because after SOPA it's
not obvious they would succeed in getting new laws passed.

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codys
>> While TorrentFreak has learned that various ISPs will start the
implementation at different times, it remains a mystery which company will be
spying on filesharers.

Lets be clear here, they are spying on _all internet users_, not just
filesharers.

