Verizon Has Already Started Warning Pirates. Here's What The First Strike Looks Like.

Verizon Has Already Started Warning Pirates. Here’s What The First Strike Looks Like.

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The Hollywood Empire Six Strikes Back. Via Torrent Freak.

In order to deal with piracy, the Obama administration, copyright holders, and Internet service providers have come up with a little plan called “Six Strikes.” Copyright holders monitor places where users are sharing illegal copies of movies and TV shows — basically, they’re just passing around Game of Thrones over and over again — then copyright holders notify the ISPs that they’ve got a pirate using their service, and the ISP warns the customer that they’ve been spotted downloading illegal material.

The details around how the voluntary program got worked out have not been widely discussed. While the MPAA and RIAA have been forthcoming about it, the ISPs and the Obama administration have been more close-lipped. This week, the site TorrentFreak — which has been very interested in the program for obvious reasons — got its hands on Verizon’s six strikes plan, which it says it found stored on Verizon’s web server. According to the document, users get warnings the first two times they’re busted, are required to watch a video about copyright law after the third and fourth warnings, and and will have their Internet speed temporarily slowed down after the fifth and sixth warnings. If the user wants to challenge the validity of the warnings — and claim they were not in fact downloading pirated material — they have to pay a $ 35 arbitration fee.

Many reports suggest that the Six Strikes program is being rolled out “in coming weeks.” In fact it’s already started. An acquaintance got the following warning from Verizon in October after someone using his Internet connection joined the legions illegally watching Prince Joffrey getting slapped around:

From: Copyright Notification <notification@copyright.verizon.net>Date: Thu, Oct 25, 2012Subject: Notice of Claim of Copyright InfringementTo: REDACTED

Dear Verizon Online Customer:

We are writing to advise you that Verizon recently received a notification from a copyright owner of a possible copyright violation that appears to involve your Verizon Online account (the “Complaint”). The work(s) identified by the copyright owner in its Complaint are listed below.

We are contacting you because our records indicate that the Internet protocol (IP) address provided to us by the copyright owner was assigned to your service on the date and time identified by the copyright owner. While this activity may have occurred without your permission or knowledge by an unauthorized user, or perhaps by a minor who may not fully understand the copyright laws, as the primary account holder, you are legally responsible for all activity originating from your account.

Copyright work(s) identified in the Complaint:

Copyright infringement level: 1Notice ID: REDACTEDTitle: Game of ThronesProtocol: BitTorrentIP Address: REDACTEDDNS: REDACTEDFile Name: Game of Thrones S02E09 HDTV x264-ASAP[ettv]File Size: 388381214Timestamp: 10-25-2012 01:58:14 UTC

Copyright infringement is a serious matter that violates U.S. copyright law and subjects infringers to criminal and civil liability. It also violates our Acceptable Use Policy (http://www2.verizon.net/policies/acceptable_use.asp) and Terms of Service (http://www2.verizon.net/policies/tos.asp). If you, or someone using your Internet connection, are engaged in the conduct alleged by the copyright owner, we urge you to stop (and ensure that anyone else who might have access to your Internet connection also stops).

Protecting Your Privacy: The copyright owner has not asked Verizon to identify you, and Verizon will NOT provide your identity without a lawful subpoena or other lawful process. However, if the copyright owner does issue a lawful subpoena or other lawful process that seeks information about your identity or account, Verizon will be legally required to provide the requested information to the copyright owner.

If you have questions regarding this notice or would like to view Frequently Asked Questions about copyrights and piracy please visit us at www.verizon.net/copyrightfaq.

We appreciate your cooperation on this matter.

Sincerely,

Verizon Online

If nothing else, the observer effect may cut down on people’s pirating copyrighted material. Or they’ll just starting moving in droves to private Torrents.