Despite Six Strikes, US ISPs Disconnecting Repeat Offenders
A report published by TorrentFreak reveals that Rightscorp, a piracy monitoring firm that works with Warner Bros. and other content creators, claims that 140 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) residing in the United States have agreed to disconnect persistent file sharers.
Wait! Aren't ISPs already participating in the Copyright Alert System? Don't file sharers get at least six strikes (warnings) before ISPs even think about disconnection? Throttling after repeated warning letters is usually the punishment, although the outcome depends on the ISP.
According to the report, Rightscorp continuously monitors BitTorrent networks to see who is sharing what. The company then approaches these file sharers by contacting their ISP, who in turn will forward Rightscorp's settlement demands, requesting $20 per shared file. The company believes this is a far more superior plan than the six strikes plan, and is now taking it a bit further -- disconnection.
That's right. Rightscorp wants repeat offenders disconnected from the Internet, and 140 ISPs located in the United States are supposedly now on board.
"We push ISPs to suspend accounts of repeat copyright infringers and we currently have over 140 ISPs that are participating in our program, including suspending the accounts of repeat infringers," says Christopher Sabec, CEO of Rightscorp.
Ultimately, this disconnection model is all about creating a new stream of revenue. Rightscorp believes that with disconnection now introduced, settlements will happen more frequently. Even more, those who are disconnected can be reconnected IF the outstanding bill/fine has been paid.
"All US ISPs have a free Rightscorp website dashboard that identifies these repeat infringers and notifies the ISPs when they have settled their cases with our clients. We encourage the ISPs to restore service once the matter has been settled and there is no longer an outstanding legal liability," Sabec says.
For now, most of the larger ISPs are ignoring Rightscorp's settlement notices. Comcast will forward the notice but without the settlement offer, as does AT&T, Verizon and several others. According to TorrentFreak, Charter is the only ISP that forwards the notice in its entirety.
So who is listed in Rightscorp's list of 140? Mostly the smaller, local providers, the report reveals.
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Ahh yes, the bread and butter argument of Generation Entitlement... so <mod edit> lame. You would have to be incredibly ignorant to not realize that property, whether it is physical, digital, or intellectual, is STILL property that belongs to an individual or company. When you take a person's property, it is theft. It's really pretty cut and dry. By no means do I support the MPA, the RIAA, or any of the entertainment industry clowns and their ridiculous lobbying, DRM tactics and so forth... But damn... people like you that have somehow actually justified this in their minds as being absolutely ok just because it is not a tangible object and "you want it but weren't going to buy it"... It is no wonder many people outside of the U.S. look at us and laugh at how stupid people like you make everyone look with your complete lack of even an elementary level of common sense.. I guess I'll just go hack a database and steal your personal info and identity and sell it off to the highest bidder... I can do that right? I mean, I didn't take anything physical from your residents, so it's all good, right? Actually, I'm ENTITLED to take your personal info because, well, I want that money! That makes it all ok, because I want it.. right?..... yeah, that's how stupid you sound.
Right, because corporations are people, we shouldn't hurt their feelings, and we should all genuflect in front of the new CEOverlords.
As questionable as their argument is, yours is even worse. Their argument stems from a rightly justified rejection of capitalism, and although it may not express itself particularly well, has merit when faced with the failed system we're currently trying to scavenge.
Your argument, aside from bashing its head against the wall of this slowly moving tide of resentment, is trying to defend the worst criminals out there. So you're saying it's theft, clear cut. Fine. What about the countless number of times businesses will arguably steal from millions, be it through over-hyping a product that is an utter POS and not accepting refunds, or through any other means.
Many pirates, certainly the ones I know, use pirating as a ways to keep companies honest. A long time ago, game conglomerates realized they could make a lot more money by selling a <mod edit> game, and not providing a demo, than by producing a quality product and giving a demo showing how good it is. Piracy is a way of stopping this, the worst of "free" market capitalism, by giving them repercussions for producing a horrible product. Instead of everybody buying it and realizing how awful it is and the company getting away entirely, some few of them would try it, dislike it, delete it, and spread the words to others. If it is a good product, they buy it, and still spread the word to others.
You call them the entitlement generation, but ask yourself this: Does it make you feel good being morally superior over those who feel they are entitled to a few games and movies produced by companies with billions in holdings, while defending the executives of the same companies that feel they are entitled to as much money as they can get their hands on by cheating and scamming, at the cost of their workers and their customers?
What should h ave happened was regulators getting off their collective rear end and realizing that access to the internet is as basic and necessary a commodity as electricity is, and treat it as such, making sure that all parts of the country have access rather than relying on profit-hungry companies to come in and make their decisions based on financial gain alone.
/probably not intended...but nice pun.
/probably not intended...but nice pun.
I am not seeing the pun...?
Disconnecting their internet is going too far though, especially considering all the services that run on it nowadays.
Ahh yes, the bread and butter argument of Generation Entitlement... so ***** lame. You would have to be incredibly ignorant to not realize that property, whether it is physical, digital, or intellectual, is STILL property that belongs to an individual or company. When you take a person's property, it is theft. It's really pretty cut and dry. By no means do I support the MPA, the RIAA, or any of the entertainment industry clowns and their ridiculous lobbying, DRM tactics and so forth... But damn... people like you that have somehow actually justified this in their minds as being absolutely ok just because it is not a tangible object and "you want it but weren't going to buy it"... It is no wonder many people outside of the U.S. look at us and laugh at how stupid people like you make everyone look with your complete lack of even an elementary level of common sense.. I guess I'll just go hack a database and steal your personal info and identity and sell it off to the highest bidder... I can do that right? I mean, I didn't take anything physical from your residents, so it's all good, right? Actually, I'm ENTITLED to take your personal info because, well, I want that money! That makes it all ok, because I want it.. right?..... yeah, that's how stupid you sound.
Ahh yes, the bread and butter argument of Generation Entitlement... so <mod edit> lame. You would have to be incredibly ignorant to not realize that property, whether it is physical, digital, or intellectual, is STILL property that belongs to an individual or company. When you take a person's property, it is theft. It's really pretty cut and dry. By no means do I support the MPA, the RIAA, or any of the entertainment industry clowns and their ridiculous lobbying, DRM tactics and so forth... But damn... people like you that have somehow actually justified this in their minds as being absolutely ok just because it is not a tangible object and "you want it but weren't going to buy it"... It is no wonder many people outside of the U.S. look at us and laugh at how stupid people like you make everyone look with your complete lack of even an elementary level of common sense.. I guess I'll just go hack a database and steal your personal info and identity and sell it off to the highest bidder... I can do that right? I mean, I didn't take anything physical from your residents, so it's all good, right? Actually, I'm ENTITLED to take your personal info because, well, I want that money! That makes it all ok, because I want it.. right?..... yeah, that's how stupid you sound.
Right, because corporations are people, we shouldn't hurt their feelings, and we should all genuflect in front of the new CEOverlords.
As questionable as their argument is, yours is even worse. Their argument stems from a rightly justified rejection of capitalism, and although it may not express itself particularly well, has merit when faced with the failed system we're currently trying to scavenge.
Your argument, aside from bashing its head against the wall of this slowly moving tide of resentment, is trying to defend the worst criminals out there. So you're saying it's theft, clear cut. Fine. What about the countless number of times businesses will arguably steal from millions, be it through over-hyping a product that is an utter POS and not accepting refunds, or through any other means.
Many pirates, certainly the ones I know, use pirating as a ways to keep companies honest. A long time ago, game conglomerates realized they could make a lot more money by selling a <mod edit> game, and not providing a demo, than by producing a quality product and giving a demo showing how good it is. Piracy is a way of stopping this, the worst of "free" market capitalism, by giving them repercussions for producing a horrible product. Instead of everybody buying it and realizing how awful it is and the company getting away entirely, some few of them would try it, dislike it, delete it, and spread the words to others. If it is a good product, they buy it, and still spread the word to others.
You call them the entitlement generation, but ask yourself this: Does it make you feel good being morally superior over those who feel they are entitled to a few games and movies produced by companies with billions in holdings, while defending the executives of the same companies that feel they are entitled to as much money as they can get their hands on by cheating and scamming, at the cost of their workers and their customers?
What should h ave happened was regulators getting off their collective rear end and realizing that access to the internet is as basic and necessary a commodity as electricity is, and treat it as such, making sure that all parts of the country have access rather than relying on profit-hungry companies to come in and make their decisions based on financial gain alone.
No it's not. When you loan the dvd, you don't have it anymore. You can't use it.
File sharing is..I give you a copy and keep a copy for me. 1 purchase, 2 people using it at the same time.
Not defending things either way, but let's get the concepts right.
Ahh yes, the bread and butter argument of Generation Entitlement... so ***** lame. You would have to be incredibly ignorant to not realize that property, whether it is physical, digital, or intellectual, is STILL property that belongs to an individual or company. When you take a person's property, it is theft. It's really pretty cut and dry. By no means do I support the MPA, the RIAA, or any of the entertainment industry clowns and their ridiculous lobbying, DRM tactics and so forth... But damn... people like you that have somehow actually justified this in their minds as being absolutely ok just because it is not a tangible object and "you want it but weren't going to buy it"... It is no wonder many people outside of the U.S. look at us and laugh at how stupid people like you make everyone look with your complete lack of even an elementary level of common sense.. I guess I'll just go hack a database and steal your personal info and identity and sell it off to the highest bidder... I can do that right? I mean, I didn't take anything physical from your residents, so it's all good, right? Actually, I'm ENTITLED to take your personal info because, well, I want that money! That makes it all ok, because I want it.. right?..... yeah, that's how stupid you sound.
That's not the point he was making. He said that the companies are not actually losing as much money as they thought, and being digital has a very large part of this. Let me explain
If a person is homeless and can't buy bread, they can't buy bread, but they can steal the bread. The problem with this is that it costs the company selling the bread the cost to produce that bread.
BUT, with digital property, it costs the company nothing to reproduce the content. Therefore if someone who wouldn't have bought it (homeless person), just pirated it, then the company doesn't lose money so it doesn't hurt them, and the person gets the content.
The difference between this and what you are saying about stealing identity is that it doesn't hurt the company, it only benefits the downloader. Of course there are cases where people who normally would buy it instead pirate it (which bondfc mentioned) and that causes companies to lose money.
Ahh yes, the bread and butter argument of Generation Entitlement... so <mod edit> lame. You would have to be incredibly ignorant to not realize that property, whether it is physical, digital, or intellectual, is STILL property that belongs to an individual or company. When you take a person's property, it is theft. It's really pretty cut and dry. By no means do I support the MPA, the RIAA, or any of the entertainment industry clowns and their ridiculous lobbying, DRM tactics and so forth... But damn... people like you that have somehow actually justified this in their minds as being absolutely ok just because it is not a tangible object and "you want it but weren't going to buy it"... It is no wonder many people outside of the U.S. look at us and laugh at how stupid people like you make everyone look with your complete lack of even an elementary level of common sense.. I guess I'll just go hack a database and steal your personal info and identity and sell it off to the highest bidder... I can do that right? I mean, I didn't take anything physical from your residents, so it's all good, right? Actually, I'm ENTITLED to take your personal info because, well, I want that money! That makes it all ok, because I want it.. right?..... yeah, that's how stupid you sound.
Right, because corporations are people, we shouldn't hurt their feelings, and we should all genuflect in front of the new CEOverlords.
As questionable as their argument is, yours is even worse. Their argument stems from a rightly justified rejection of capitalism, and although it may not express itself particularly well, has merit when faced with the failed system we're currently trying to scavenge.
Your argument, aside from bashing its head against the wall of this slowly moving tide of resentment, is trying to defend the worst criminals out there. So you're saying it's theft, clear cut. Fine. What about the countless number of times businesses will arguably steal from millions, be it through over-hyping a product that is an utter POS and not accepting refunds, or through any other means.
Many pirates, certainly the ones I know, use pirating as a ways to keep companies honest. A long time ago, game conglomerates realized they could make a lot more money by selling a shitty game, and not providing a demo, than by producing a quality product and giving a demo showing how good it is. Piracy is a way of stopping this, the worst of "free" market capitalism, by giving them repercussions for producing a horrible product. Instead of everybody buying it and realizing how awful it is and the company getting away entirely, some few of them would try it, dislike it, delete it, and spread the words to others. If it is a good product, they buy it, and still spread the word to others.
You call them the entitlement generation, but ask yourself this: Does it make you feel good being morally superior over those who feel they are entitled to a few games and movies produced by companies with billions in holdings, while defending the executives of the same companies that feel they are entitled to as much money as they can get their hands on by cheating and scamming, at the cost of their workers and their customers?
What should h ave happened was regulators getting off their collective rear end and realizing that access to the internet is as basic and necessary a commodity as electricity is, and treat it as such, making sure that all parts of the country have access rather than relying on profit-hungry companies to come in and make their decisions based on financial gain alone.
Word, this is one the better pro-piracy arguments that I've read beyond the standard "they weren't going to buy it anyway," which I would agree doesn't always necessarily lack merit. I'm an anti-capitalist, I'm going to be pirating your shizz and laughing about it when millionaires and billionaires cry about how food isn't being taken off their plates or how they struggle to make ends meet, or when the hackers, crackers and contributors to the piracy community make digital commodities that exist in a virtually infinite abundance to available to everyone as a form of resistance of capitalism (no matter how it's being justified, interpreted or elaborated), even a form of affirmation. The people who participate in these types of activities usually aren't out to harm the average person, so someone hacking me premised upon arguments against piracy fails to differentiate between the wealthy to poor-average person. And besides, your values aren't my values, including those of property relations, and I really don't care about the law.
Capitalism is itself theft and entitlement of the wealthy, corporations and individual capitalists arbitrarily profit through the labor of workers which for the most part they contribute nothing to, and being that most people don't have access to enough capital so as become a capitalist while not being edged out of the market (that's aside from capitalism not being able to function without stratification and inequality) and that class relations are enforced through legal institutions, including the police apparatus, it's not a voluntary relation rather than a power relation entwined through various structures, economic (in both aspects of production and consumption), political and social.
I don't feel the need to apologize about pirating, about crappy games, software, DRM, films, etc, but I'm still more inclined to support indie musicians, developers or whatever as my budget allows me to given that I'm actually interested in their creations considering they're much more vulnerable to market mechanisms than HBO, EA, or whatever large scale corporate record label. They're also most generally not all that financially stable as individuals while not letting their creations being dictated by profit and sales considerations while being bogged down by inflated budgets and a loss of control, which is usually why the quality is, I guess subjectively, superior to a lot of the mass produced crap that's out there, and while they do intend to make a living by doing something they enjoy a lot of them aren't overly concerned about piracy. So for me at least, it's not an issue of being pro-small or independent business as opposed to large business, but what type of affects certain practices will have upon them as people once they start to become too excessive.
And lol, a lot of the people outside of the US don't like the US as a whole because they think that the right-wing and American chauvinism here is representative of everyone who happens to live within the geographical area collectively known as the US (apart from its former colonies). I can't necessarily blame 'em.
Anyway, after wanting to find out if there were any analyses or interpretations of p2p as being a form of digital communism, although I'm not stoked on market socialist ideas I found a pretty interesting article written by Kevin Carson that I'd suggest looking into if it's relevant to your political inclinations. Companies can do whatever they want so as to prevent piracy, including the inevitable demolishing of net neutrality (an intersection between the political and economic that has and always will exist so long as these structures and relations remain intact), there is and always has been a way to outmaneuver them.