The ‘Six Strikes’ Anti-Piracy Plan Is Apparently Kicking In Today

Today is the day that the RIAA will begin working with ISPs to try and control piracy on the Internet, at least according to Internet scuttlebutt.

Some background: The “Copyright Alert System,” better known as the Six Strikes plan, is a plan implemented by the RIAA, the MPAA, and several major internet service providers like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and so on implemented by the Center for Copyright Information. The idea is that if you, the evil consumer who doesn’t want to pay for their content, steals it from somebody who did pay for it, you won’t just get a virus, but also a nasty letter.

Get six nasty letters and you get to experience a “Mitigation Measure,” which is basically a scolding and having your Internet speed cut off. This idea was supposed to go live last year, but was delayed because we’re assuming somebody sobered up somewhere.

But, now, it will be arriving imminently:

TorrentFreak learned from a source close to CCI that the system is currently scheduled to launch early next week, and we’re not the only ones. Another sign of the start of the program is that a few days ago the CCI launched their new website. This is where recipients of the copyright alerts will be directed to.

The website explains how the copyright alert system works and lists places where people can download and stream music and movies legally. It also lists details about the appeals process for people who want to dispute one of the warnings.

If you were wondering what those possible appeals might be, here you go.

In reality, it means that the small percentage of pirates actually out there will have to use Starbucks to steal, since the CCI has confirmed that business-class connections are exempt from the scheme. Or they could use Tor. Or VPNs. Or cyberlockers. Or proxy servers. Or they could have their friend give them a copy on a thumb drive.

On the other hand, we’re sure the lawsuits that will spring from this will be highly entertaining, so at least this massive amount of time and effort coming to nothing will be funny.