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AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

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Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#31

Post by philipodonnell »

> The bottom line: Very few copyright infringers ever get booted from their broadband provider, pointing to the severity of these cases and the number of steps at which the customer is told they are violating copyright before they are cut off from AT&T's service. Copyright infringers are often illegally pirating hundreds of hours of stolen content, not a song or two from their favorite band.

Its far more likely AT&T cares now because they own content now instead of it somehow pointing to the "severity of these cases", a point the article itself makes several times before walking it back? Also nothing to back up the out-of-nowhere claim that infringers "often illegally pirate hundreds of hours"?

Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#32

Post by pmiller2 »

tantalor wrote: post #8

The podcast Reply-All had a good episode about why this is problematic earlier this year. https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/118 Excerpt: ALEX: So finally, I find this website that is called the Center for Copyright information. PJ: And what’s that? ALEX: It’s a website that is run by both the entertainment industry and the ISPs, they’re working together. And the deal is, if you feel that you have wrongly received…

“...a completely unaccountable system that was frustratingly opaque.”

Oh, you mean they actually discovered “internet arbitration.” No appeals, no real incentive to be impartial, and a good way to take a lot of peoples’ money.

Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#33

Post by icebraining »

craftyguy wrote: post #22
wmf wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bargain compared to being on the wrong end of a federal copyright lawsuit.

Considering that the 'process' doesn't work (assumming the folks above are correct about being ignored), what makes you think you won't end up on the wrong end of a federal copyright lawsuit even after your $35 donation?

Could actually be a way to identify the pirates with money to waste, ie, the most sue-worthy.

Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#34

Post by usefulcat »

jrockway wrote: post #24

I wonder when this will spread to other industries? Say someone doesn't pay their newspaper bill. Maybe contact their water company and ask them to shut off their water, to encourage them to pay. It's worth a try, right? I get why content rights owners go to the ISP to get at the ISP's customers who are doing things they don't like. I don't get why ISPs play along. It's extra work, and it makes the customer hate the…

In this particular case, the answer is rather obvious--the ISP is a content rights owner. Vertical integration FTW!

Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#37

Post by bdcravens »

bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #2

Some of you might be wondering why "a little over a dozen" people being booted from their ISP is newsworthy. This is figuratively the beginning of a very, very slippery slope.

A slippery slope many have already considered acceptable, if it involves political (albeit hateful) speech.

Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#38

Post by cronix »

sf_rob wrote: post #28
obblekk wrote: post #5

I’m sure many of us believe in following and enforcing laws (even flawed laws like 150yr copyright), but are still made uneasy by this development. I think the source of that discomfort is - what happens if your service is cut in error. Do you trust ATT to have a fair, easy appeals process? Competition in the form of space internet can’t come soon enough, not to enable pirates, but to ensure normal people have reason…

As you hint at, this is also a space where the FCC considers dial up and cell phone service (AFAIK) to be competitors when it comes to regulatory requirements. I got some copyright notices from a roommate's habits and Comcast was the only high speed ISP that was available at my house. Given that my work involves regular working from home, this was highly concerning.

At least they (Comcast) just send you an email now and don't inject their notices into the HTML of the websites you're visiting like they were doing a few years ago. It was basically a MITM attack, done by the ISP.

Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#39

Post by eisrep »

cronix wrote: post #38
sf_rob wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As you hint at, this is also a space where the FCC considers dial up and cell phone service (AFAIK) to be competitors when it comes to regulatory requirements. I got some copyright notices from a roommate's habits and Comcast was the only high speed ISP that was available at my house. Given that my work involves regular working from home, this was highly concerning.

At least they (Comcast) just send you an email now and don't inject their notices into the HTML of the websites you're visiting like they were doing a few years ago. It was basically a MITM attack, done by the ISP.

They've done this to me warning I was near the 1TB limit on data usage earlier this year. It felt pretty disgusting.

Re: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown

#40

Post by cronix »

bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #2

Some of you might be wondering why "a little over a dozen" people being booted from their ISP is newsworthy. This is figuratively the beginning of a very, very slippery slope.

Soon we will probably have an Internet Citizen Rating, similar to Credit Ratings, or China's Social Credit system.
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