“6-Strikes� Notification Will Double in 2014

[TRACKERFANCLUB]

The so-called “six-strikes†Copyright Alert System has been active for 18 months now and anti-piracy warnings are being sent out at an increasing rate. Jill Lesser, Executive Director of the overseeing Center for Copyright Information (CCI), claimed that the program will double in size in 2014 – apparently, the outfit believes that this will eventually change people’s attitude to piracy.

 

Back in February 2013, five US ISPs began sending out Copyright Alerts to subscribers who used BitTorrent to pirate films, TV shows and songs within the frameworks of the Copyright Alert System. The suspected pirates were supposed to be educated via a series of notifications that their Internet connections were used to illegally share copyrighted content, and forwarded to legal alternatives.

 

The CCI announced that over 1.3 million anti-piracy alerts were sent out within the first 10 months of the program, but that was just a ramp up phase, as in 2014 the number of warnings is expected to significantly increase.

 

Jill Lesser pointed out that the main goal of the program is to change people’s attitude and regain their respect for copyright, but the industry experts have focused a lot on the punishment side. Lesser claims that the real goal is to shift social norms and behavior, thus rejuvenating the notion of the value of copyright that existed before.

 

Aside from sending more notices, the CCI is also going to consider adding more rights owners and Internet service providers to the program. For instance, the software and book industries don’t participate at the moment, as well smaller Internet service providers.

 

However, the “six-strikes†system is often criticized by the public. For example, professor Chris Sprigman noted that the piracy problem is often exaggerated by rights owners. Sprigman provided numerous examples of how creative output has increased in recent years. He said that the problem seems to be blown up into something it is not. Although the professor doesn’t particularly like piracy, he doesn’t see it as a threat to the creative economy in any area. Sprigman also explained that the Copyright Alert System is new to people, and the system itself is very mild and incredibly easy to evade.

 

According to Chris Sprigman, the “six-strikes†system is targeted at casual pirates, notifying them of being watched. Most likely, this move may cause them to sign up for a VPN or proxy, while it is unclear if they can in fact change their behavior in future. In other words, the professor doesn’t see it as a solution to the piracy problem. However, he had to admit that the system may represent the way of reducing the size of piracy over time, maybe even changing social norms.

 

While some of the experts believe that the system could be productive and an admirable attempt to forward people to legitimate options, it is yet to be seen how effective this attempt will be in the long run.