Verizon has become the latest ISP to agree to send out copyright notices on behalf of the recording, TV, and film industries. While other companies such as AT&T, Comcast, and Cox already engage in the practice, Verizon has typically stood aside rather than enter into the realm of copyright infringement policing. With the announcement that it would begin sending out notices, Verizon issued this statement: “We recognize the importance of copyright and the need to enforce those copyrights…without that enforcement, intellectual property won’t be generated at all. At the same time, it’s important for our customers to be assured that they won’t have their privacy rights trampled.” The notices do not include any sort of threat of legal action or punishment, such as termination of service as Cox has threatened chronic infringers in the past. It simply states that the user is accused of inappropriate sharing or behavior, notifying them that they are involved in illegal activity, asking them to delete any illegal content, and pointing them toward legal content as an alternative.
As the RIAA announced that it would no longer be suing individual file sharers, and broadcast networks and film companies have begun to move some of their copyrighted material online in ad sponsored and controlled forms, it seems that these big companies are coming to terms with the fact that the internet means an end to their old business models, but they are still grappling with how to remain in control and maintain their profits. The enlisting of ISPs to do the leg work of monitoring and notifying internet users who are still bypassing the legal content in favor of illegal file sharing and downloading seems to be an attempt to regain control without being the evil accusers. The bigger question is why Verizon has all of a sudden become so willing to participate. A CNET article notes that the high level of piracy is “allegedly clogging their pipes,” which would be a straightforward reason. The article also points out that broadband companies are looking for increased access to premium content and are hoping to benefit from better relationships with the media outlets.
To me, the notices themselves seem highly unlikely to have a huge impact on illegal users, as they do not indicate action toward any sort of penalty. Perhaps knowing that one’s actions and illegal activities are being tracked is enough to scare some infringers, but to me the notices seem more like the first step toward a more severe crackdown. Other countries have already become much more severe in their treatment of infringing users, with policies such as the 3 strike rule that was passed as law in France, and it seems U.S. companies are trying to take a less intrusive step to begin to head in the same direction.
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Verizon’s change of heart doesn’t seem to have any purpose if it wont have any consequences. So I agree with emb16 that this is just the start of something that could potentially be more serious. Also it is unclear at what point they will start issuing these notices. If I find a rare album on a blog and download it, is that one infringement enough for one of these notices? Will they start to issue some type of three strike rule, where too many notices equals termination of service? It saddens me to think that instead of being invested in customers privacy, they are more interested in partnering up with media corporations.