A Few Words About Copyright
Over the last couple of days there has been some confusion about what Comcast does when copyright owners allege infringements on our network. I thought that, since we have this new blog, I’d use this opportunity to set the record straight.
We have supported content owners voluntarily for many years and complied with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by forwarding notices of alleged copyright infringement that we receive from music, movie, video game and publishing companies to consumers. We have an automated system that currently forwards between 1 to 2 million notices each year to customers’ email addresses. (By the way, this is the same process we’ve had in place for years - nothing has changed.) Many other ISPs also forward notices - some like us use automation, others do it manually.
Since some of the reporting on a panel appearance I made in Nashville this week incorrectly suggests that “three strikes” policies like some countries in Europe have adopted are being contemplated, I think it’s important to make this point: no American ISP (including Comcast) that I know of is talking about a so-called “three strikes and you’re out” law or process. While we have always supported copyright holders in their efforts to reduce piracy under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and continue to do so, we have no plans to test or implement a so-called “three strikes and you’re out” policy.
What I did say in Nashville is that we’ve had conversations with associations representing the various content industries about what else we might do - cooperatively and voluntarily - to deter infringement, educate consumers about copyright, and point them toward legitimate sources of the content they want. This is important and we all need to work together to come up with a solution — all the major ISPs and all the major content industries that are subject to piracy - music, movies, video games, and software. We are still working on ideas in these industry conversations, and we intend to approach them thoughtfully and carefully.
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Comments (4)
JediChric, the two issues (copyright infringement and excessive use) are
different animals. Our excessive use policy is about exactly that -- the tiny percentage of users who consume huge amounts of bandwidth. It doesn't matter what that person is doing with the bandwidth (i.e., whether they're uploading or downloading copyrighted material or something else).
Hey Mark, our excessive use policy is in place for a simple reason: to make
sure that everyone using our service has a good experience (i.e., low
latencies, fast downloads, etc.). It is worth noting that less than
1% of our customers ever receive a notice about this issue. So if you've never received one, you're probably fine on that front.
I too am glad to see that Comcast is not going to try and police the Internet. It is the responsibility of the content owner, not the ISP, to track down the offending user, and work with them to correct the situation.
I too want to voice, however, that I object to Comcast's bandwidth regulations and policies. I started off paying for unlimited bandwidth, and ended up paying more for a capped amount per month. I was MUCH happier under the previous unlimited package that I was paying for before Comcast took over my old cable provider (Insight). There really are legit (this also means legal) reasons why someone might consume large amounts of bandwidth each month.
I would like to applaud Comcast for their stance in this instance. I think that a three strikes law is completely inappropriate and illegal. ISP, including Comcast, should not be the police, they should be the provider. But I also think it's funny how Comcast goes to great length to say they won't institute a three strikes law, when they already have a two strikes and your out rule when it comes to bandwidth consumption. Is that what you would call a double standard?