The Copyright Alert System (CAS) goes active this week. CAS was organized and championed by the Recording and Film Industry and targets consumers using peer-to peer (P2P) software. What it means to you is that if your IP address is indicated in any illegal sharing of copyrighted materials via a participating ISP, you will be subject to notification and then discipline (mitigation).
CAS Six-Strike Policy:
The CAS six-strike policy consists of a leveled, or tiered, response and being flagged for misuse as identified by the CAS policies. For the first two infringements (flags) you will be be notified of the suspected infringement via your ISP; the first two notifications have been deemed as “educational warnings”. The third and fourth strike will require the customer to acknowledge the warnings received. The final two strikes can be expected to lead toward “mitigation” measures from the ISP.
CAS Mitigation Measures:
CAS mitigation measures include:
- Temporary reductions in of Internet speeds (throttling)
- Redirection to a specific landing page upon opening an Internet Browser
- Required reading of related copyright information and copyright tutorials
- Forced contact with the ISP to discuss the matters
ISPs, under no circumstances, are allowed to terminate your service regardless of the number of strikes received, but are allowed to apply any or all of the mitigation remedies at their disposal.
ISPs that are participating at the CAS launch:
- AT&T
- Cablevision Systems Corp.
- Comcast Corp.
- Time Warner Cable
- Verizon
Content Owners that are participating at the CAS launch:
- MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.)
- – Walt Disney Studios
- – Paramount Pictures Corp.
- -Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
- -20th Century Fox Film Corp.
- -Universal City Studios LLC
- -Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
- RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America, Inc.)
- -UMG Recordings Inc.
- -Warner Music Group
- -Sony Music Entertainment
- -EMI Music North America
Arbitration:
The primary ISP account holder may appeal any allegation(s) from the CAS for a $35.00 fee and the appeal must be made with 14 calendar days of receiving a “mitigation alert”. This fee will be refunded if the account holder wins their appeal.
Further Resources about CAS:
- Center for Copyright Information (CAS page)
- Copyright Alert System FAQ
- Wikipedia – Copyright Alert System
- Original CAS Press Release
YouTube – The copyright Alert System Video:
Click Image to Play
Resources for finding legal ways to access your favorite music (as listed by the CAS/Copyright Information Center):
Center4CopyrightInfo on Twitter:
What is P2P?
Love it or Hate it – please leave your comments or thoughts about this in our comment section below.
Love it or hate it? The Copyright Alert System… Leave your comments here!
I’m not too thrilled with this honestly. As a content creator I am totally on the side of making sure your material is not being stolen or used without permission, however I am very concerned with the path that this kind of oversight takes us down. ISP’s are service providers and should not be expected to be policemen.
The only good thing I see in this proposal is that it does not go as far as France has in totally cutting off a person’s Internet access if they are “caught” three times. We live in an era where Internet access is more and more becoming a requirement, not an option. I fear that if the studios get their way on this one they will still not be happy with it and eventually push for the disconnection option that they managed to get made into law over there.
I hate quoting pop culture references, but if this whole topic doesn’t really strike home or seem like it applies to you right now I highly recommend reading a book by Cory Doctorow titled Pirate Cinema. You can purchase it on Amazon for about $13 or you can legally download it for free in ebook or html format right from the author from his website at http://craphound.com/pc/download/.
Although it is a work of fiction it boils down the stupidity of the heavy handed tactics that big media studios are trying to leverage down to a level that anyone, especially teenagers and parents can understand.