After suing more than 35,000 people for illegally sharing music since 2003, the RIAA has reached agreements with several ISPs to cut off subscribers' internet connections if they ignore warnings to stop, Wired.com has confirmed.
The RIAA is planning to replace its “subpoena, settle or sue" process that has been expensive for the music industry. It requires the RIAA to go through the courts in order to pressure those it suspects of sharing music without permission.
Instead, RIAA agents will seek out those sharing music without permission (usually by conducting its own P2P searches), and will e-mail the music sharer's ISP alerting them to that activity. The ISP will then either forward the RIAA's e-mail or send the subscriber a warning e-mail telling them that music sharing is not permitted.
If they continue to share, the subscriber will receive one or two additional warnings, after which the ISP will slow their connection. If the allegedly infringing activity persists, the subscriber may find their internet connection stops working altogether.
Jonathan Lamy, director of communications for the RIAA, confirmed to Wired.com that ISPs have signed an agreement to curtail music sharing, but did not specify which ISPs or the process the ISPs will follow. The story was reported in an unsourced article in the Wall Street Journal.
A highly-placed source close to the situation independently confirmed the labels are planning to abandon their lawsuit strategy. The source asked not to be identified.
Music fans may feel some relief that sharing music will no longer put them at risk of a lawsuit, assuming their ISP is one of those that has agreed to the plan. However, the biggest beneficiary of the new deal is the RIAA itself, which has seen its investigative techniques questioned and suffered key setbacks in court while paying extensive attorneys' fees to pursue cases through the normal legal channels.
The RIAA is planning to replace its “subpoena, settle or sue" process that has been expensive for the music industry. It requires the RIAA to go through the courts in order to pressure those it suspects of sharing music without permission.
Instead, RIAA agents will seek out those sharing music without permission (usually by conducting its own P2P searches), and will e-mail the music sharer's ISP alerting them to that activity. The ISP will then either forward the RIAA's e-mail or send the subscriber a warning e-mail telling them that music sharing is not permitted.
If they continue to share, the subscriber will receive one or two additional warnings, after which the ISP will slow their connection. If the allegedly infringing activity persists, the subscriber may find their internet connection stops working altogether.
Jonathan Lamy, director of communications for the RIAA, confirmed to Wired.com that ISPs have signed an agreement to curtail music sharing, but did not specify which ISPs or the process the ISPs will follow. The story was reported in an unsourced article in the Wall Street Journal.
A highly-placed source close to the situation independently confirmed the labels are planning to abandon their lawsuit strategy. The source asked not to be identified.
Music fans may feel some relief that sharing music will no longer put them at risk of a lawsuit, assuming their ISP is one of those that has agreed to the plan. However, the biggest beneficiary of the new deal is the RIAA itself, which has seen its investigative techniques questioned and suffered key setbacks in court while paying extensive attorneys' fees to pursue cases through the normal legal channels.
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