Japanese ISPs ally for anti-piracy
March 21, 2008
Japan's major Internet service providers (ISPs) have joined forces in an anti-piracy alliance to terminate the contracts of users who are repeatedly engaging in piracy. The announcement was made by the Telecom Service Association and the Telecommunications Carriers Association of Japan who will, from April 2008, take joint action against repeat offenders.
According to reports in Japan, the ISPs will come up with their procedures in cooperation with copyright organisations, including the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers as well as the Association of Copyright of Computer Software. Under the provisional terms of the agreement the most likely course of action will be to send pirates a notice that they have infringed copyright, then bring in a period of suspension if they break the law again. The final sanction would be a termination of contract.