[conspire] Fwd: New anti-piracy system will hit U.S. Internet users next week

[Tony Godshall]

"Slow the internet to a crawl"?

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>> New anti-piracy system will hit U.S. Internet users next week
>>
>>
http://www.dailydot.com/news/copyright-alerts-system-launch-six-strikes/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co
>>
>>
>> Starting next week, most U.S. Internet users will be subject to a
new copyright enforcement system that could slow the Internet to a crawl
and force violators to take educational courses.
>>
>> A source with direct knowledge of the Copyright Alert System (CAS), who
asked not to be named, has told the Daily Dot that the five participating
Internet service providers (ISPs) will start the controversial
program Monday.
>>
>> The ISPs—industry giants AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and
Verizon—will launch their versions of the CAS on different days throughout
the week. Comcast is expected to be the first, on Monday.
>>
>> The CAS, designed as an "educational" service to combat casual piracy in
the U.S., has been criticized as designed purely for corporate interests,
at the expense of the average Internet user. While it doesn't require ISPs
to cut off Internet access to repeat pirates—as is the case in France and
New Zealand—it will issue escalating punishments to suspected pirates,
severely reducing their connection speeds after five or six offenses.
>>
>> Though the system's executive director promised to hire an independent
consultant to vet the software that will flag copyright violators, that
hasn't happened yet.
>>
>> The date of the launch isn't yet official—the source expressed surprise
that the news has been kept so tightly under wraps—but it's been rumored
for several weeks to be at the end of February.
>>
>> Apparently to mark the launch, the CAS has created a shiny new website.
It replaces a drab earlier version, one that would go months without an
update and seemed a metaphor for the the system's repeated delays and
internal conflicts: Most recently, it was pushed from November to late
February, "due to unexpected factors largely stemming from Hurricane Sandy."
>>
>> The CAS also has a sleek new promotional video, wherein a woman explains
the process over smooth jazz.
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQTONXs_N-A
>
>
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