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US: Copyright Alert System delayed to 2013

November 29, 2012

By Colin Mann

The US’s Center for Copyright Information (CCI) – a collaborative effort between content creators in the movie and music industries and leading IPSs to help educate the public and deter copyright infringement – has announced that alerts under its Copyright Alert System (CAS) – a system through which ISPs will pass on to their subscribers notices sent by content owners alleging copyright infringement over peer-to-peer networks – will not now get under way until 2013.

Writing in a blog post, Jill Lesser, Executive Director, says that unexpected factors largely stemming from Hurricane Sandy have seriously affected the CCI’s final testing schedules, and the body now anticipates that the participating ISPs will begin sending alerts under the CAS in the early part of 2013, rather than by the end of the year.

Lesser says the CCI’s goal has always been to implement the programme in a manner that educates consumers about copyright and peer-to-peer networks, encourages the use of legal alternatives, safeguards customer privacy, and provides an easy-to-use independent review programme for consumers to challenge alerts they believe they’ve received in error.

“We need to be sure that all of our ‘I’s are dotted and ‘T’s crossed before any company begins sending alerts, and we know that those who are following our progress will agree,” she says.

The CCI stresses that termination of a consumer’s Internet service is not a part of any ISP’s CAS programme, and that contrary to many erroneous reports, the programme is not a ‘six-strikes-and-you’re-out’ system. “There’s no ‘strikeout’ in this programme,” Lesser said in October.

The progressive series of alerts is designed to make consumers aware of activity that has occurred using their Internet accounts, educate them on how they can prevent such activity from happening again (for example, by securing home wireless networks or removing peer-to-peer software), and provide information about the growing number of ways to access digital content legally.

 

 

Categories: Articles, Content, Piracy, Policy, Regulation, Rights