Update: Six Strikes Program Delayed Until 2013

The rollout of the Copyright Alert System will be delayed until early 2013, according to the Center for Copyright Information (CCI). The system, also referred to as the “Six Strikes” program, is intended to deter copyright infringement committed through illegal file sharing.

CCI indicates that the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy is largely to blame for the delays. "Due to unexpected factors largely stemming from Hurricane Sandy which have seriously affected our final testing schedules, CCI anticipates that the participating ISPs will begin sending alerts under the Copyright Alert System in the early part of 2013, rather than by the end of the year," CCI executive director Jill Lesser wrote in a blog post.

"We need to be sure that all of our 'I's are dotted and 'T's crossed before any company begins sending alerts," Lesser added, "and we know that those who are following our progress will agree."

As we previously discussed on this IP Law Blog, the system will allow content owners to notify the ISPs when they believe their copyrights are being infringed. The ISP will then notify the subscriber that his/her account may have been misused for potentially illegal file sharing. If the activity continues, the warnings issued to the subscriber will escalate and can ultimately result in “mitigation measures,” which include slowing the subscriber’s Internet connection.

Started today, someone will probably run a thread...

http://www.techspot.com/news/51747-controversial-six-strikes-copyright-alert-system-launches-in-us.html
“The “six-strike” warning system that aims to curb illegal downloads in the U.S. is set to go live today after missing its scheduled launch in November...the copyright alerts only appear target a subgroup of users, namely those sharing through BitTorrent. According to TorrentFreak, “the millions of users of file-hosting services, Usenet and streaming sites are not going to be affected.” The site goes on to point out that even those who keep using BitTorrent can avoid the warnings by signing up for one of many anonymizing services like proxies and VPNs...”

Costs $35 to appeal.

http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202589552962&Controversial_Copyright_Alert_System_to_Combat_Online_Piracy&slreturn=20130125182546
“...How does the CAS know someone is downloading illegally? The CCI’s partners—companies that own and develop music, movies, and TV shows—join peer-to-peer networks and locate the music, movies, or TV shows they have created and own. If they see a title on the network that is copyrighted, they identify the Internet Protocol (IP) address of any computer that shared the material illegally. They then notify the ISP that controls that IP address, and the ISP then passes on a Copyright Alert to its customer. “No personal information about consumers is shared between the content owners and ISPs, and ISPs are not involved in the process of identifying copyrighted content,” the CCI says...”

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