Hollywood bosses call for ‘three strikes’
Hollywood movie studios are, for the first time, pressing Congress to pursue a ‘three strikes’ policy against internet pirates which could ultimately lead to disconnection for persistent offenders.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which is currently drafting proposals for Congress on how American broadband policy should be revamped.
It is the first time the MPAA has public endorsed a graduated response or ‘three strikes’ policy through which alleged offenders would be warned about illegal downloading or streaming on their account. While the MPAA does not outline what each step should be, or what the final punishment should be, it does urge Capitol Hill to examine the South Korean experience.
This Spring the country instituted a graduated response to persistent illegal downloaders for which the ultimate sanction is a six month disconnection. France recently, after much legal wrangling, passed a similar law last month through which disconnection is enshrined as the ultimate sanction.
The MPAA letter is more a statement of intent than a detailed examination of how the problem of internet piracy should be tackled. It openly admits that its members do not know exactly how internet piracy should be tackled and what the punishment or warning at each stage of a ‘three strikes’ policy should be.
However, it does suggest technologies, such as digital watermarks, could be useful as well as asking ISPs to filter their clients’ use of the web.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the record industry’s equivalent of the MPAA, has already called for a ‘three strikes’ policy.
In the meantime, American ISPs are waiting to see what is decided by Congress. The FCC is due to present its plans on how to revamp American broadband policy in February next year.
Tags: 3 strikes, Capitol Hill, Congress, FCC, Hollywood, illegal downloading, illegal downloads, internet piracy, MPAA, piracy, pirates, RIAA, three strikes
Category: Broadband Issues, Broadband Regulation, Uncategorized
November 11th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
How can you disconnect only one person? Surely you have to disconnect the whole internet connection – meaning everyone at the house/office/etc will be affected – including those who haven’t offended?
November 12th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
that’s right, hence it’s a very controversial issue.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
What I dont get is that is breaking the law and yet there appears no enforcement of the punishment.
Surely the massive fine to the tune of thousands of pounds should be applied to the owner of the connection and jail sentence to those who cant pay it. Never seems to happen – if it was and people were made example of; even after the 1st instance it – people might think twice about doing it (virtual theft)