3-Strikes Law Not Needed to Disconnect Pirates
Written by Ernesto on June 30, 2008In an attempt to cut down on so-called “illegal downloading” in the UK, the anti-piracy outfit BPI has sent out a round of intimidating emails, based on faulty evidence. BREIN plans to follow this example in The Netherlands, and meanwhile, the French Minister of culture is encouraging all EU member states to do the same.
Disconnecting filesharers has been one of the most debated anti-piracy measures this year. Many countries have discussed the possibility of doing so, and recently French authorities proposed a controversial “three strikes” law that allows anti-piracy organizations to disconnect pirates without a court order, or decent proof.
Next month, France will be the chair of the European Union, and Christine Albanel, the French Minister of Culture said that they will take this opportunity to encourage member states to take on piracy as well. Albanel further said that the “three strikes” law aims to change the behavior of the “average downloader”, not the hardcore pirates.
Albanel does not mention that the French law goes directly against the European Parliament who, this April, condemned state plans to authorize the disconnection of suspected file-sharers from the Internet. The European Parliament said that disconnecting petty file-sharers would be “conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness”.
However, recent developments indicate that anti-piracy outfits don’t need a law to threaten pirates. Since most countries are hesitant to adopt such laws, organizations like the BPI and BREIN are now looking to make deals with UK and Dutch ISPs, to establish a “three strikes” policy, without having to change the law.
The BPI already managed to convinced the British ISP BT to work with them. Earlier this week, the Register reported that a BT customer received an email, stating:
BPI will monitor for further infringements of copyright and, if further evidence is obtained of infringement via your internet connection, then further action is likely to be taken against you. That action may include litigation against you, as well as the suspension by BT of your internet connection.
A few days later, the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN said they would like ISPs in The Netherlands to do the same – forward letters to alleged offenders, and threaten to terminate their Internet connection. In France, this is already happening as well, without the “three strikes” law being officially passed, with at least one ISP having agreed to work with an anti-piracy organization, to combat piracy.
So, while claiming they need such a law, they are working with ISPs to do the same thing anyway. This will be a huge problem, not just for the customers that may lose their connections, but just because people are being hit with, in many cases, baseless accusations. Until something is done to hold organizations accountable for false or inaccurate claims, the industry will continue to use shoddy data gathering techniques, pointing the finger at as many innocent net users as may be guilty.
This leads us to believe that the disconnection threats, are nothing more than an attempt to scare people, who often didn’t even commit the “crime”, as we pointed out before. Sad but true.
Previously: Most Popular DVDrips on BitTorrent (wk26)
Next: How The FBI Dismantled a BitTorrent Community
62 Responses
As I have said before:
As a form of protest, people can utilize civil disobedience by file-sharing in the public eye. Parades of people can walk in the streets distributing software (in CDs, or some other medium) amongst themselves and/or to any passer-bys as a form of protest.
It will be a way to show the public, and as a sign of strength. If the police acts, there can only be more such protests, as it shows the public of the wrongs that the industry commits.
I do not know why this has not been done before. It is time it should be done.
In addition, it must be public, so that people can see what it is. Doing it on the internet is not enough – it must be shown to people.
@1:
I agree. Using the “excuse” I download copyrighted material to protest my disgust of the pricing and my rights on owning this.
Fair enough. Please protest against what you disagree on, but do it more organized. People just downloading and backing it up with the previous stated phrase doesn’t really hold up in court.
The music and movie industry is using the law to their advantage to harass the users and consumers. If people want to really make things happen, they too need to use the law to their advantage.
Or else it will just be like when your parents tell you’re not allowed to do something when you’re a kid and you just cross your hands and say you don’t want to obey because you don’t want to obey.
“The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” – William H. Borah
And in this case, companies with power and the will to abuse it.
*Also in this case
I’m in
:-D
I bookmarked this page so if there will be some announcement or interesting links in the comments here, i’ll see it.
U know, im already gonna start with it. Dunno how yet, maybe with a button with “File-Sharer” printed on it. We’ll see.
@3
Haha but not good enough. I’m not just saying this for my own cause – the fact that others are being arrested for this is just as unacceptable as it would be to punish me for file-sharing.
@3
but in any case, I can’t do anything. I’m just giving you people ideas – I am not in any position in my life to do things.
id b happier to get cut off by my ISP rather than get a fine, least that way i could get the internet connected in a fake name or in the name of a lawyer who i dont like hehehe, ISPs in australia dont check up on if you have given the right details and who lives at what address, as long as you pay it there happy
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I have 25Mbit connection, i always paid for my connection via a machine on the street, my ISP doesn’t collect personal information LoL
When they don’t have my information, how the f**k they will sue me.
But my ISP loves me and loves his customers, they will never take any action to lose his monthly income ;-)
THIS IS ALL FAKE PUBLICITIES FOR ME.
I WILL ALWAYS DOWNLOAD AND I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.
FTPS – KAZAA – BITTORRENT – IRC, looooooooL TOO MANY WAYS TO DOWNLOAD A MOVIE, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP US !
DISCONNECT MY P*NIS :-)))))))
amen Mr.Afghanistan amen
Nothing much to do but wait for the next evolution of P2P, which is P2P with some really bad ass encryption.
They have upped the ante and the cat and mouse game continues… but its going to get sooo bad for them that they are going to look back at these days and regret that they excelerated the “arms race” to where there are taking it when again just like the Napster days they had a choice…
Maybe we should move focus to put pressure on the artist? If we all wrote a personal letter to artists like this:
Hey,
do you support RIAA and anti piracy? It is really decisive to mye choose of liking.
Br,
potential fan
If we could organize it and direct it at an artist over a period, so that they got like hundreds of these letters. Then maybe they will start shiver in their knees, and put pressure or distant themselves from RIAA/IFPI/BREIN etc…
Something needs to be done about these “Internet Police.”
I’ve gotten way too sick of this. I’ve recently undertaken some serious measures to protect my privacy, and I hope it’ll help.
They’re not taking down this sucker without a fight.
So… the plan from the ISPs goes something like this?
Step 1: Disconnect pirates from the internet
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Bankruptcy
riaa mpaa ifpi brein whatever, they are the REAL terrorists these days. They want nothing less than to achieve a totalitarian utopy (capitalism has never accepted ANY concurrence at all)
The next time you itch to vote, ABSTAIN!
@ 11 & 12
So it’s ok if everyone else gets sued?
See that makes no sense, GOOD HONEST people film and rip those movies for you… look at OiNK they risked their freedom to bring that to you.
What happens if you never get sued but every other file sharer does? who will you leech off then?
THIS IS ALL OR NOTHING PEOPLE, it’s all symbiotic
Wouldn’t this still be going against EU Law? As it is all the same except without lawful backing of the country it is taking place in.
Also, if they are basing it on inaccurate infomation when you are innocent then threatening to counter them with a lawsuit may be optional. I can’t see them wanting standing in court with inaccurate infomation and having to lump the legal costs of being raped in court over a disconnection. Nevermind the publicity which could be generated from it.
I truly hate anti-piracy companies like these because of the way they act arrogant and shockingly retarded. This is possibly their last hand to play before the goverment take things into their own hands and decide on what to do. But no doubt if the EU doesn’t go against these groups the people will.
pirates sucks and are stupid
I’m happy that I’m not with one of the big Dutch ISPs but rather with a smaller one. Still, the people at BREIN can go FUCK THEMSELVES. I will not fucking bow down to them. I know my rights and I am prepared to defend those rights up until the highest possible court. As long as they continue their scare actics without any legal basis they are worth shit to me.
I don’t think 3-Strikes Law will work . and I believe this will raise ISP strike .
the reason is many ISP to compete each others , some sell they service by giving free stuff . for example if you subscribe for 3 years you will get free notebook . so if goverment implement 3 strike laws , who going to pay .
also “disconnect pirates without a court order, or decent proof” is totally barbaric act . I couldn’t believe that the french want that . is this mean that in french , the anti-piracy organizations have authority above the laws ?
I didn’t know that French is part of US colony now .
@17
LOLOLOLOL!!!!
Another interesting outcome of this ‘pull the plug’ law will be when employees at large corporations start running their p2p programs (which they often do). Imagine a company like Charles Schwab or Apple or Wired all of the sudden getting their connection yanked and losing $$$$$ because of some of their employees wanted the new Eminem (or whatever).
uuuhhhhh VPN anyone? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
ROFL ZOMG hahahahhaahhahahhahaahahaa lolololol there are sooooooooooooooooooooooo many ways to avoid being detected using p2p software. :P these companies are wasting time, money and resources.
good luck forcing the isps to block out p2p too, considering at least 75% of all net connections are P2P, do you really think that they are gonna risk going bankrupt so hollywoods top jews can make a few hundred million more?!?!
Get real fuckheads
ROFL
P2P Forever!!!
F*ck this sh*t! I hope all pirates die a slow and painful death.
ROFL ZOMG hahahahhaahhahahhahaahahaa lolololol there are sooooooooooooooooooooooo many ways to avoid being detected using p2p software. :P these companies are wasting time, money and resources.
good luck forcing the isps to block out p2p too, considering at least 75% of all net connections are P2P, do you really think that they are gonna risk going bankrupt so hollywoods top jews can make a few hundred million more?!?!
Get real losers
ROFL
P2P Forever!!!
@ #29
Eat a dick loser
@30,
you are wrong, very wrong. 75% of the net connections are not P2P. Only l00sers use p2p. Infact p2p is very, very, VERY slow.
Nothing beats gbit FTP with 256-bits SSL encryption!
You know… why are people so obsessed with VPNs… there not the answer there just a quick fix.
same with HTTPS, its ok if you want abit more privacy but if the ISPs can monitor all your traffic then what’s the point? It stops being effective.
At best it’s a slowing trick, which will still mean less Seeding time due to more people worried about being caught uploading… less seeders, less for leechers until you have nothing in the network…
God damn these motherfuckers. I’m on BT, ugh. I thought we were safe enough from this world wide crackdown on file sharing. Fuck RIAA/BREIN/BPI.
@32
those gbit ftp’s cost money, and one of the most common reasons for file sharing, is because they have little or no money to buy cd’s/dvd’s.
now go shove the gbit connection up ur fanny, fucking script kiddie
on topic :)
tbh i think its more terror tactics than anything else. what we can all actively do is change ISP as soon as they announce that they will work with the BPI or other organizations with this 3 strikes or any other method. vote with your feet! and hit them in the wallet
@32
those gbit ftp’s cost money, and one of the most common reasons for file sharing, is because they have little or no money to buy cd’s/dvd’s.
now go shove the gbit connection up ur fanny, fucking script kiddie
on topic :)
tbh i think its more terror tactics than anything else. what we can all actively do is change ISP as soon as they announce that they will work with the BPI or other organizations with this 3 strikes or any other method. vote with your feet! and hit them in the wallet.
but theres one thing bugging me is this BT wholesale we are talking about? or BT the isp if this agreement is with the wholesaler we will all be screwed
To 21
Troling for the majors Hum?
Since we catched you go back to your bosses and warn them that we are comming with the pest killer.
We don’t need terrorists and parasites in our countries.
We don’t need them because we can deal directly with the artists now.
Tell them that they forgot who is the cutomer and who hold the money.
We the customers decided that we will no longer suport pigs like them who are up to no good.
“less seeders, less for leechers until you have nothing in the network…”
Mathematically one can demonstrate that you have to reduce seeding and sharing by more than 97% to start reducing the availabilty of files.
Thi is so because the files volume grow exponetialy once seeded so the amount of initial seed is irelevant as soon as it is above zero.
This is an impossible goal to reach for the parasites at the majors.
They are screwed.
But of course they are stupid as any parasite is and they do not know anything about mathematic or even music as a matter of fact.
To be a parasite you don’t need that.
“do you really think that they are gonna risk going bankrupt so hollywoods top jews can make a few hundred million more?!?!”
At 29:
Some of my friend are jews and I assure you that the jews have nothing to do with this.
(nor do they have anything to do with the stealing of palistinian land!)
As a matter of fact they are fighting this side by side with us!
@2..change the laws….lol
its not even a fuckin law yet, and its happening…
and who are you going to get to change the law?
your local councillor? that really is laughable.
you could always wave a flag with a bunch of guys.
i mean fuck, we all know that works.
*sigh
Just because some asshole *cough* RIAA MPAA MAFIAA.. *cough* tells me something, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to do ANYTHING about it. After the University of Washington thing, I can’t see this actually working…
The only people who will be disconnected are people who are too incompetent to cover their tracks or are completely innocent.
check out my blog for hot stuffs
http://www.flowtationaddvice.com
@ 40 – adith
mate this ain’t an advertising site… If your going to comment, but something useful in it before you leave a link…
At least that way people think you might have some intelligent to say in a blog rather than your own mindless thoughts.
i wonder how many customers an isp would have to lose before it started to realise that it was losing money? perhaps the way to go would be for mass cancelation of contracts. then see if all the isps sued the anti-piracy companies for the lose of earnings. anyway, it seems to me that the internet is going to die. no one is going to pay for a broadband connection to answer e-mails or book holidays. no big downloads available, no fast broadband needed.
> “Some of my friend are jews and I assure you that the jews have nothing to do with this.
(nor do they have anything to do with the stealing of palistinian land!)
As a matter of fact they are fighting this side by side with us!”
Just like any other group, some jews do bad things and some don’t. Some do more bad things than others.
While there is no legal background, you can always choose a different ISP that don’t do this kind of nonsense.
There will always be some ISP that want the get extra bucks and don’t plays the brain game.
And if the shit hit the fan and the EU goes to a three stick law, you can always go to a VPN service. But probably the community will find some way to block this shit anyway.
But all in all, it is sad to live in Holland or France now a day’s.
there’s always btguard
it’s more like you’re stealing salaries than it is them trying to fuck you kids lol. this is completely unprecedented stealing. sure, the internet is a springboard for so many artists, but why even start a band if you’ll never make money from it? artists are in business to.. have a business.. to.. make money. when people dump 40hrs a week into making the products you steal, why do you think labels put out shit like lil wayne these days? lol no budget because of you.
LOL, you would think with most of England being the garbage pit it is, that the Government there would spend more time trying to clean up the streets instead of wasting time on BTs. What a joke!
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
N0 internetz for j00
Hi everyone,
It’s not intrusion but an humble request to the community here.
I have recently started an articles website and would request you (I will appreciate if you can) to please spare some time and post articles at my site.
Thanks
Prashant
http://www.depositarticles.com
use peer gaurdian and fuck em all
Wouldn’t it be better, and more legal, to arrange a HUGE, WORLDWIDE, mass protest by NOT buying ANYTHING from the members of these RIAA,etc.. ?
Start a website containing ALL the products that fall under these groups, then start a no-buy for a whole weekend, worldwide, on a set date.
Nothing illegal is being done, and it would certainly send a powerful message to these arseholes that the consumer ALWAYS wins.
any ISP who signs up for this harassment needs to be taken out with a general strike … they have unilaterally breached contract, so users are entitled to immediately withhold further payment until the threat is retracted and replaced with a grovelling apology.
Get organised, Pirate Party
This is not actually a form of “combatting piracy”, but a form of extortion. I suggest that everyone who receives such a letter report the crime to the police.
It’s pretty obvious that BREIN and BPI aren’t in this to “protect copyrights” but rather to cash in on settlements. Why would they threaten people with their apartments and possibly lives being turned over by an investigation unless 3000€ is paid by two weeks from now, otherwise?
E-x-t-o-r-t-i-o-n is the word.
“I couldn’t believe that the french want that” : oh, we don’t want that ! Our Minister of culture wants that.
I still haven’t read a single good opinion on her proposal…
All I know is you better have 100% testable/reproducible prove if you come after me. If not I will make damn sure your company/government goes out of business! One way or another, I’m not above using force either!! So bring it bitches!!
The next time you itch to vote, ABSTAIN!
This is the way to hurt them, to show our numbers and make a real difference. This is an idea that could (with the right response) actually work (or at least get things moving in a more lawful way). We need some kind of petition where internet filesharers sign up and say until the law is changed, or the rights of internet users to remain private are changed I will not vote for you. Then we send it to politicians in our respective countries. With enough people on board this could really scare those running to try and rule our lives. Its a very ragged idea that just jumped into my head so some clarity and extra idea would help but what I do know is the internet filesharing commuinity CAN hurt the men in charge, if we say we wont vote.
In 1980 when the Commodore 64 was around, there was no internet, and people shared their copied games and software physically. Maybe this can be done again. It would need to be organized. External drives are great for sharing, or the old DVD disks.
we used to post the old floppy disks which held 665k per side. Now we have DVDs that can be posted, and advertised for swap or copy fee.
nice post dude
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http://flowtationaddvice.com
Jun 30, 2008 at 14:30 by Matt`
“So… the plan from the ISPs goes something like this?
Step 1: Disconnect pirates from the internet
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Bankruptcy”
ROFL, you got that right :))
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