Verizon Communications has confirmed to CNET that it has suspended the accounts of several file sharers suspected of sharing copyrighted content illegally. The ISP is known for issuing warnings to its customers when they are found to be sharing illegally, but until this confirmation it was unclear whether Verizon would suspend a customers. "We've cut some people off," Verizon Online spokeswoman Bobbi Henson told CNET.
"We do reserve the right to discontinue service. But we don't throttle bandwidth like Comcast was doing. Verizon does not have bandwidth caps." At the end of 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that it would cease filing lawsuits against individual users and had instead come to an agreement with several major Internet Service Providers in the U.S. to take another approach.
The approach would start with a warning to an offending user. If the user persisted then the warnings would get stronger, until a point where the ISP would determine a suspension was in line. It has been over a year since the RIAA made these claims, and still no ISP has officially acknowledged any support for the RIAA's plan.
Henson told CNET that the number of users who have been cut off is very small, instead noting that the warning letters seem to be having the intended effect on customers. "We've found that we don't have to warn most people a second time," Henson said. "Most people stop. Or they tell whoever is doing it to stop." Many customers who receive warnings were unaware that such activity was taking place in the first place, particularly parents with teenagers.
Verizon does not gather information on its customers itself, instead it gets reports from industry investigators that include an offenders' IP address. The company does not disclose any private information of the customer without a court order.
The approach would start with a warning to an offending user. If the user persisted then the warnings would get stronger, until a point where the ISP would determine a suspension was in line. It has been over a year since the RIAA made these claims, and still no ISP has officially acknowledged any support for the RIAA's plan.
Henson told CNET that the number of users who have been cut off is very small, instead noting that the warning letters seem to be having the intended effect on customers. "We've found that we don't have to warn most people a second time," Henson said. "Most people stop. Or they tell whoever is doing it to stop." Many customers who receive warnings were unaware that such activity was taking place in the first place, particularly parents with teenagers.
Verizon does not gather information on its customers itself, instead it gets reports from industry investigators that include an offenders' IP address. The company does not disclose any private information of the customer without a court order.
