James Delahunty
14 Apr 2016 4:46
Anti-piracy firm CEG TEK has suggested that Internet Service Providers in the United States should pay fines when subscribers repeatedly commit copyright infringement.
It made the suggestion to the U.S. Copyright Office as part of its consultation with the public on copyright issues. Among its suggestions is a proposed $30 fine to be dished out to an ISP each time a subscriber is caught committing piracy. The fine would apple after an initial warning.
CEG TEK seeks settlement from Internet users it alleges to have infringed copyright of its clients, usually an adult entertainment company. These requests are sometimes forwarded to the alleged pirate by an ISP, but most large providers have chosen not to.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not require that ISPs forward all copyright notices and settlement requests to their subscribers. CEG TEK would rather that the U.S. move to a model that is more like that of Canada.
"Canada's ISPs forward such notices at no charge to copyright owners. Setting up forwarding systems is relatively easy and inexpensive, and is similar to ISPs normal bill-forwarding systems," the company argued, reports TorrentFreak.
"By statute require ISPs to pay copyright owners $30 for each notice of claimed infringement sent with respect to an Internet account having repeat infringements... Do this, and ISPs would actually enforce their own Terms of Use that currently give lip service to the concept that customers are forbidden from engaging in copyright infringement."