MPAA Wants ISPs to Cut Off Pirates
Written by enigmax on September 02, 2008Following on from the IFPI-inspired Italian blockade of The Pirate Bay, the MPAA’s President has been in Italy offering ideas on how to deal with the ‘problem’ of unauthorized file-sharing. Not wanting to flirt too much with originality, Robert Pisano is backing a 3 strikes-and-you’re-out policy. Just how far will the Italian government go in its currently tough anti-piracy mood?
Having previously warmed up with the The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) in April and on the back of the IFPI Pirate Bay block in Italy, MPAA President, COO and donor Robert Pisano was in Venice taking part in a panel at which the heads of Italian movie producing groups were complaining heavily about the state of Internet piracy, which they claim threatens their business.
Although Pisano suggests the ‘carrot’ – encouraging file-sharers to use legal services of which he says there are dozens – the truth is they have completely failed to get into the minds of file-sharers with these services. “..our goal is not to punish anyone but rather to give them a reason to do the same downloading, but through legal channels,” said Pisano, according to a THR report.
But it seems the outcome is inevitable – the use of the ’stick’. Like the IFPI, the MPAA now seems to be taking the line that if you can’t deal with individual file-sharers effectively through the legal system with civil action, it’s time to deal with millions all at once by pressurizing their ISPs to take measures against them instead. It’s likely the MPAA will issue complaints to ISPs about file-sharers in the same way as it has always done – except with a sting in the tail.
“Maybe the first couple of times they get a warning e-mail, then perhaps the speed on their account is reduced,” said Pisano, “and if they keep doing it then maybe their account is closed.”
The Italian Society of Authors and Editors is also calling for action against file-sharers, and wants to back this up with ‘educational campaigns’ targeted at schools. In contrast, Riccardo Tozzi, President of the National Union of Producers wants to convert pirates into paying customers by offering movies at an affordable price.
In 2003, Silvio Berlusconi’s government passed one of the harshest copyright laws in Europe, but it hasn’t really been enforced to the extent the MPAA and IFPI would like. Unfortunately for them, January 2007 saw the top criminal court in Rome announce that downloading films, music or software from the Internet is not a crime if done for no profit. Although this announcement seemed like good news for individual Italian file-sharers, it didn’t turn out particularly well for Italy’s largest BitTorrent site. Colombo.BT was shut down after it was alleged the administrators illegally profited from the site.
Although Italian Minister for Culture Sandro Bondi said the fight against piracy is a priority for the government, it seems that support for the movie industry doesn’t stop there. Bondi previously announced that the government’s movie interests department ‘General Direction for Cinema‘ had announced to the EU it will take measures to give “fiscal incentives” to movie production and distribution companies via tax shelter and tax credits.
In October a technical roundtable will get underway in Italy which will promote collaboration between the music, movie and ISPs, i.e they will discuss the possible implementation of a “3 strikes” policy. Stay tuned for an update.
Previously: BitTorrent Searches Skyrocket as Sites Grow
Next: Prison Break Downloads Popular on BitTorrent





66 Responses
sucks to be Italian at the mo
What’s new?
This Feel Like DeJa Vu It’s almost like if i already read somthing like this :)
Who Cares ?
They will teach them to warn but i am sure they will not warn their clients !
If i were owner of ISP, i would never disconnect my clients for someone else copyright material and i am sure owner of ISP will not disconnect Italian dudes from internet for some music or movie.
If they don’t download movies / music, why they should get 10Mbit – 20Mbit unmetered connection for ? 512kbps is more then enough to browse website.
I know MPAA tried this tactic somewhere else before, as i know, they agreed to disconnect file sharers but in real they never disconnected anyone :)
MPAA PWNED == wasting $ and screwing artists :)
MPAA – Game is over mate, stop bit*ching around other countries & go home :=)
………………………………
if( MPAA leave artists )
printf(”\n Artists will be rich and live happily “);
else
printf(”\n Artists F**ked up LoL “);
………………………………
Clean and Clear ;)
The tone of the MPAA is that they rule the world. While in one country it is illegal to download a movie, in others it is not. Why not go to Iran, Iraq, and a few other places and convince them to stop allowing people to sell pirated DVDs on the street as well as download them off of the internet.
With the internet speeds going up, what are people going to use the extra speeds for? Downloading nothing? Ok windows updates and other updates will be faster but most ISPs wont increase the limit too much. So what is the point?
If we were just going to download small amounts of files, like webpages 2 MegaBits/s should be more than enough (including some images there :D) but the technology keeps on moving and they want people to use it.
Once “legal” downloading becomes the norm, what are ISPs going to do then, because they cant say it is illegal and send you letters for that!
The industry needs to move on in this technology revolution or it will die off eventually!
MeH…
I don’t understand how come not a single ISP ever mention that who’s going to pay the remainder months of the subscriber that get cut off .
if **AA going to pay then I’m sure a lot ISP will agree .
“MPAA – Game is over mate, stop bit*ching around other countries & go home :=)”
File sharers in the US don’t want the MPAA either. :)
/q Although Pisano suggests the ‘carrot’ – encouraging file-sharers to use legal services of which he says there are dozens /q
There are no service that compare, and untill it do it will go on.
love how they think they have the right to tell INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS what the fuck to do. so sad….
government supporting big business and couldn’t give a shit about the people..
yeah.. whats new..
One advice … although Obama seems like a nice man, his running mate Joe Biden is the real devil.
Check his policy about “pirats” and i am sure you will be inspired to write a nice article, TF.
He pledged for 5yrs prison for copying just a movie, He pledged for internettax.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cnet/20080824/tc_cnet/83011357831002416338
http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2008/08/barack_obamas_running_mate_is.html
”
“MPAA – Game is over mate, stop bit*ching around other countries & go home :=)”
File sharers in the US don’t want the MPAA either. :)
”
where then? to Antarctica? its island since few days \o/
Wow. Pump kids with propaganda, right there in skool. The MPAA aren’t a benign force. Not one bit. As if they don’t have enough of a grip on the minds of children worldwide, without a direct pipe into the classroom. In a truly fair society, there would be equal time in the classroom dedicated to educating kids on the acquisition of tracker invites and perhaps a how-to on port-forwarding. I think kids learn enough shit in school these days, without turning them off completely force-feeding them crap opposite to what they believe. Does the MPAA really think kids will just say “OK, I was wrong”? Man, the MPAA and their brethren of greed, worldwide really need to STFU.
artica, artica!!! weee
The day that the bpi try and get into the classrooms will be a very funny day for all and a epic fail on the part of the bpi.
so we going from use our services or we will take ALL your money.
to stop running or we will cut your legs off.
One finger salute to the system
Atlast seems some benefit for living in India…… No one cares here!! :-))
“The Italian Society of Authors and Editors is also calling for action against file-sharers, and wants to back this up with ‘educational campaigns’ targeted at schools.”
To which my response is:
http://ezee.se/articles-blog/2008/03/31/prediction-future-failure-of-present-mafiaa-plans/
Cheers!
CJ
Corrupt bastards….
“In contrast, Riccardo Tozzi, President of the National Union of Producers wants to convert pirates into paying customers by offering movies at an affordable price.”
The only way they will successfully do that is if they do the following:
1. Significantly increase the video quality beyond what iTunes currently offers. I mean like full Blu-ray quality HD 1080p with a high bit-rate. The bit-rate iTunes uses is way too low.
2. No DRM. It proved totally unsucessful with Music and it’s equally unsuccessful with Movies. Today, ripping a blu-ray is little more difficult than ripping a CD, and as quite clearly evidenced by the fact that illegal torrents is such a problem for them, the DRM isn’t working at all.
3. No regional restrictions. It’s unbelievable that we still have a very limited selection of movies, if any, available through stores like iTunes outside of the US. People in other countries aren’t given a choice.
4. Ensure that the price is less expensive than the equivalent DVD or Blu-ray (depending on the quality). Currently, iTunes Australia has many low quality videos available at higher cost than the DVDs.
With zero restrictions imposed on the HD rips available through torrents and usenet and a significantly higher quality, it’s no wonder that people are turning to illegal alternatives to get what they want.
to cut off mpaa’s, ifpi’s and riaa’s interwubz !
LOL @ #4
./configure && make
Pirates are very r3t4rd3d individuals.
They should be given lethal injection.
Why should the copyright industry have to go through the law, in which they have to actually prove infringement occurred, when they can completely circumvent it, and declare the guilt of an individual without due process or review. This is unequivocal totalitarianism.
The copyright and patent laws should be dismantled for the good of the human race.
I never saw this coming!
I’m glad Comcast is not doing the SAMETHING!
I want ISPS to cut off the MPAA
I want ISPS to CUT OFF the RIAA
I want them to go get stuffed and a politician or 300 ot make a net neutrality law that forces ISPS not to sneak, not to spy and also gvies them immunity to RIAA/MPAA stron arm tactics, the 2nd you sue or agrivate a big ISP your going ot have a ton a hackers descend upon thee like hte rains of hell YE HATH BEEN WARNED
@4 – Mr.Afghanistan
I completely agree with you.
MPAA Sucks.
this very same r374rd3d individual of course googled how to write in 1337 and was a former employee/is currently a 5h1the4d of what people call “government” now a days. If i had known any better and not stick to “schoool” I am feeling more than free and proud for declaring governments good 1i4rz who give very good b10wj0bz to anyone regardless of geder or even race (outside humanity). “power” gets you “money” which obviously gets you terrorism within your own country and the idiots for which you were even more stupid to “nominate” and “trust”. Unfortunately we all are taught that people are nice when they all along havve backstabbed the |-|13l outta everyone and are now known as MPAA (more pathetic amalgamating as5h013s) , RIAA (retired idiots analyzing “those previously mentioned” 455ho|3s). Of course we are affected because we are the “people”. I wonder why these news are just kept to the internet and not to the wannabe’s on fox (or rather “fux”) news, your local channel, your national channel… at least if the United states and much of its culture wasn’t “divide anc conquer” we would not be victims of our own inventions. If you really want this to stop your best bet is to advocate and SPEAK OUT for YOUR RIGHTS.. not theirs, YOURS!
Obviously this warrants some protests, doesn’t it?
all da ppl doing dis piracy should stop …. lol… only joking its then leka cheap so who cares
Pirates should be shot in the head!
Tactics like this is why most of us pirates do not really want to feed abusive and exploitative industry’s like the RIAA/MPAA.
Tho i did go to see dark knight so i am a bit of a hypocrite.
Regarding the “legal services” comment, we don’t want those “legal services” thing, we want it to be open.
We want control, something they really don’t like.
Anti-piracy trolls are the REAL retards here.
GTFO, both of you (Anonymous #23 & 31)
Theres one thing legal services do not offer
A VAST BACK CATALOG!!!
to repeat myself. Aswell as making the content available in the first place the internet has allowed people to meet so many more people worldwide…alot of the time making friends with people in the US. peer pressure is the stable of telvision and sports programming alike…everyone wants to be in on the office gossi (or chatroom) gossip. Therefore people will not wait (even 1 day) for a show like lost, prison break or heroes when they can download it 1 hour after it airs…and then be part of the international gossip the next day.
Ther shows i mentioned all rely heavily on word of mouth and internet chat as a means of advertising their show. The producers then think they can cut off the hand that feeds them?i dont think so.
With current Tech there is absolutely no reason why we cannot have simultaneous worldwide airing of shows, as well as downloads being made available at the same time. If these were done (say…via itunes) without drm, international restrictions or delay then it would kill the illegal download market overnight.the producers think they can fight the internet…im sorry guys but this is a version of media that you never censor!
“Pirates are very r3t4rd3d individuals.
They should be given lethal injection.”
1. If pirates are really so “r3t4rd3d” as this guy says then how is it that their the first to break the drm schemes, some of which are beyond the ability of the average user to break.
2. “They should be given lethal injection.” – this just reinforces the impression you put on everyone when you called a bunch of people retarted in leet….
CEO’s of the MPAA, RIAA etc. should all be taken out and beheaded NOW!
The MAFIAA can f*** off you think im going to waste my 100mps line downloading peanuts for breakfast?
will some one please shut these losers down, or at least kill them so they stop buzzing in our ear.
phuck off and die pirates.
Old.
SIEG
HEIL
SIEG HEIL !!!!!!!
I think im going to kill some P2P n00b pirates today, would be fun.
@43 Would be just as much fun when a pirate robs you of all your online savings.
@44 first of all, pirates are weak people
LOL, Want, Want Want Want Want! Good, now they know what its like to want! Idiots. To heck with the MPAA AND the RIAA
http://www.privacy.mx.tc
I’m sorry but we don’t/shouldn’t want ISPs to become the internet police. This would be the start of something bad.
Unless the legal alternative download sites are free they wont work. The industry needs to look into other methods to regain the customers. For example give the movies away for free download but put something like a 5 minute add break in the middle of the movie to make money from advertisers.
I can’t wait for people to somehow blame this one on the US.
“3 strikes and your out” meaning?
youre in jail, dead, no more internet ever?
Sharing is a GOOD thing
– GOD
@ #5
I use my bandwidth and BBC iPlayer to stream BBC progs I’ve missed over the previous week, I can’t do that without the fast speeds. This is the way technology is going.
Today, we don’t have to download copyright material to use a large amount of bandwidth.. so it’s not an indication that I’m a pirate.
Seems #40, 42, 43 & 45 are the same
troll.
Why don’t you stop trolling TF and go
back to /b/ where you belong???
so you get an email that says in other words you should get peerguardian then you’ll get another email saying get something you pay for that protects you better for super cheap THEN they MIGHT lower your speed…..sounds pretty sweet to me heh comcast is already lowering everything for everyone that BLOWS kinda sounds like the Italians will get it easier than us~
heres what we can do.
STEAL INTERNET NEXT.
ALL htose so called wireless secure lines…..OMG
ok kill my home net
ILL USE YOURS YOU NOOBS
I don’t understand how these hypocritical motherfuckers get away with this shit. America’s richest white man started his fortune from, *drum roll* ……… PIRACY! If it weren’t for Bill Gates’ sneaky stealin ass we would all be forced to use iMacs. So why don’t you start with him #23, and go back to the fuckin stone-age.
Time to encrypt yuz pirate ass ‘n not allow unencrypted connections. Government ain’t on the Pirate’s side, only Pirates are on the Pirate’s side. It be cat vs mouse, there be lots a mouses guys, and we be lots more determined than ‘dem fat assed cats!
Alright, that just pissed me off. MPAA, fuck off, go home, and get a fucking life. Stop wasting your time , and give the world some peace. Geez.
Maybe what someone needs to do is open up a pirate only ISP and tell the MPAA to bugger off once and for all.
Free bandwidth for all,as fast as you wanna go!
TPB 4ever
indeed, go TPB! I still can’t believe this trap of idiots has been going on for a long time now; and warranting protests, HE33 YES! Pirates being weak? Hmm… someone has a weak brain. Look how many of us we are, we’re apparently too many, otherwise your so called “fellow officers” (mates) would have stopped us by now. For now, the RIAA and MPAA are lobbying for damaging everything on these “political” elections. i suggest they go back and suck their thumbs as they were doing so before. It seems like this is the job that has more profficiency among politicians, who are separating their “matters” MORE AND MORE each day from society.
Without downloading, I have no need of broadband. So the ISP that becomes the cop to stop my downloading will become the former ISP and I will return to 56k without problems. I will make sure the ISP of the 56k is not the same ISP that gave me grief.
What else will happen is that I will then visit my friends with external hard drives to offer them what might take them a long time to download. Instead of having to get it at whatever speed/limitation their ISP might have, they will be able to pick from better than a TB of data. They will have it far sooner than the internet could supply them with it. I will do this for pure spite and a desire of vengance.
yeah that’s what we really need in italy now
c’mon
Hey MPAA!
Didn’t you announce this a while ago?
*yawn*
@ 57
Dem yuz iz rite!
Robert Pisano handled the case against Art Buchwald, where Pisano’s company was found guilty of stealing Buchwald’s script. There was a book written about this. I know also that Pisano has done this type of thing on several other occasions but that Buchwald was the only one who could fight back. It’s “ironic” that he claims to fight for artists when he was found guilty by a jury of stealing.
I should also add that Pisano personally threatened me when I worked at MGM. I had encountered constant anti-Catholic bigotry at MGM and elsewhere in Hollywood and when I tried to stand up against that was attacked more. This ended up in dispute where Pisano openly supported another employee who had repeated insulted Jesus. (Another employee said she wanted to kill the Pope.) Pisano got right in my face and threatened me which was slightly intimidating although he’s a dwarf he was rumored to be involved with the Mafia.
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