New US steps on piracy
By Sumir Singh

While some movie, music and software companies have taken a heavy handed and sometimes unfair approach to online piracy, others have adapted to the internet and learnt to ‘engage’ current and potential buyers of their product and services.  The old business models do not work too well in a world where everyone is connected to each other and there is huge public sympathy for basic software being pirated by the poor.

America has launched a new all out war on online piracy which may be implemented in other countries as well. Leaders from the movie, television, music and Internet service provider communities today announced a landmark agreement on a common framework for “Copyright Alerts” – a state of the art system similar to credit card fraud alerts – that will educate and notify Internet subscribers when their Internet service accounts possibly are being misused for online content theft. This voluntary landmark collaboration will educate subscribers about content theft on their Internet accounts benefits consumers and copyright holders alike.

Currently, many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) forward to subscribers notifications that they receive from content owners about alleged content theft – generally by email. Until now, however, there has been no common framework of “best practices” to effectively alert subscribers, protect copyrighted content and promote access to legal online content.

The Copyright Alert System is based on a consumer’s “right to know” when his or her Internet account may have been used improperly to download copyrighted content. Often, subscribers – particularly parents or caregivers – are not aware that their Internet accounts are being used for online content theft. Other subscribers may be unaware that downloading copyrighted content from illicit sources is illegal and violates their ISP’s Terms of Service or other published policies. Data suggest that, once informed about the alleged content theft and its possible consequences, most Internet subscribers will quickly take steps to ensure that the theft doesn’t happen again.

The new Copyright Alert System addresses these problems with a series of early alerts -- up to six -- in electronic form, notifying the subscriber that his or her account may have been misused for online content theft of film, TV shows or music. It will also put in place a system of “mitigation measures” intended to stop online content theft on those accounts that appear persistently to fail to respond to repeated Copyright Alerts. The system will also provide subscribers the opportunity for an independent review to determine whether a consumer’s online activity in question is lawful or if their account was identified in error. There are no new laws or regulations established as a part of this voluntary agreement. Termination of a subscriber’s account is not part of this agreement. ISPs will not provide their subscribers' names to rights’ holders under this agreement.

The agreement also establishes a Center for Copyright Information to support implementation of the system and educate consumers about the importance of copyright.