...
There are rumors of "deep packet inspection," probably set off by a tweet from file-sharing overlord Kim Dotcom,
but in fact the ISPs aren't watching their customers' traffic. The reality isn't quite as Big Brotherish nor as high-tech. T
he system starts with copyright owners monitoring peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent or Mega, looking for their own content. In the porn industry, which is typically at the cutting edge when it comes to this stuff, monitoring is done by third parties that use a combination of manual and algorithmic searches to find copyrighted content on file-sharing sites and piracy forums.
Once they spot an illicit copy of Skyfall or "Thriller," a content owner can identify the internet address and ISP of the person hosting the file and report the address to the ISP. The ISP then looks up which customer it is and issues a copyright alert, which can be a warning, a requirement to watch an educational video, a warning that requires the customer to acknowledge having read it, or a temporary slowdown of service.
The document purported to be from AT&T says customers will receive email alerts at first. After the fourth and fifth alert, "certain websites" will redirect to "an educational page" and customers will be required to complete a short tutorial before they can access those sites again. After fifth infraction, the document warns, the content owner could sue and force AT&T to turn over the customer's information.
According to the document purported to be from Verizon, the ISP will deliver the first alerts by phone and email. The third and fourth alerts will trigger a webpage that requires the customer to acknowledge receiving the alert. Then after the fifth and sixth infractions, Verizon will throttle bandwidth:
Fifth and Sixth Alerts:
Redirect your browser to a special web page where you will be given several options.
You can:
Agree to an immediate temporary (2 or 3 day) reduction in the speed of your Internet access service to 256kbps (a little faster than typical dial-up speed);
Agree to the same temporary (2 or 3 day) speed reduction but delay it for a period of 14 days;or
Ask for a review of the validity of your alerts by the American Arbitration Association. There is a $35 review fee (that you will get back if you win). For subscribers who meet certain need-based eligibility criteria. the review fee will be waived by the AAA.
There is no mention of what happens after that, but the CCI does not require ISPs to cut off service or permanently throttle speeds. Director Jill Lesser said in a radio interview that
Lesser said that once a user has been warned six times, "we're just not going to send them any more alerts. Because they are not the kind of customer that we're going to reach with this program."
It has been reported that the ISPs may give the names of repeat infringers to copyright owners in order to pursue legal action, but this has been disputed by the CCI, which says it does not give out customer information. The program has also been criticized as a threat to public Wi-Fi networks, which the CCI has denied, saying that only residential customers will be included in the program. Additionally, the CCI says customers will be able to appeal to a third party reviewer if an alert is falsely triggered.
...
