Piracy plummets as subscribers receive notices; U.S. to copy controversial system?

It's time for America to get rid of the Copyright Alert System and replace it with the Canadian alternative responsible for a sharp decrease in piracy, an anti-piracy group has said.

Canadian Internet users that are alleged to have infringed copyright by downloading and sharing media online have begun receiving notices forwarded from their Internet Service Providers. While there are still controversial aspects of the program, a group is calling for the system to be replicated in the United States and to replace the comparably ineffective Copyright Alert System (CAS).

The Internet Security Task Force called last week for the U.S. to adopt a system more like that of the Canadian Copyright Modernization Act, citing data that shows a sizable drop in piracy activity on Canadian ISPs.

The data come from GEK-TEK International, which is a firm based in Los Angeles. GEK-TEK monitors online piracy and its business is to extract fees/settlements from alleged Internet piracy for its clients. It's main clients are Nu Image and Millennium Film and it has around 125 clients in Canada, and no doubt it would like to expand its horizons to more content owners.

Here are the figures attributed to GEK-TEK from Canada:

Bell Canada - 69.6% decrease
Telus Communications - 54.0% decrease
Shaw Communications - 52.1% decrease
TekSavvy Solutions - 38.3% decrease
Rogers Cable - 14.9% decrease

ISTF wants CAS to be done away with entirely, claiming that it simply doesn't work.

"We've always known the Copyright Alert System was ineffective, as it allows people to steal six movies from us before they get an educational leaflet. But now we have the data to prove that it's a sham," said ISTF member Mark Gill, President of Millennium Films.

"On our film 'Expendables 3,' which has been illegally viewed more than 60 million times, the CAS only allowed 0.3% of our infringement notices through to their customers. The other 99.7% of the time, the notices went in the trash."

There is controversy over the system in Canada, however, such as the use of notices to seek settlements from alleged pirates.

Sources and Recommended Reading:
Internet Security Task Force Calls for End of Copyright Alert System (PR-May 12, 2015): www.prnewswire.com
Canadian Piracy Rates Plummet as Industry Points to Effectiveness of Copyright Notice-and-Notice System: www.michaelgeist.ca

Written by: James Delahunty @ 20 May 2015 17:12

nonoitall

Stopped reading at "piracy plummets".

What happens when Microsoft buys Minecraft? Lets see...

20.5.2015 18:20 #1

audvare

Quote: "On our film 'Expendables 3,' which has been illegally viewed more than 60 million times, the CAS only allowed 0.3% of our infringement notices through to their customers. The other 99.7% of the time, the notices went in the trash."
Still on about this crappy film? I guess nobody wanted to pay for it. Really should get over it and make something people actually want to pay for.

20.5.2015 19:01 #2

ehvbadboy

reason why! first we pay a lot for all copywrite protection. Whois gonna pay 25 euros (apox 30usd) for a bluray movie. make it much cheaper forget the copy protection (is gonna be cracked so why bother). And please dont wait months before releasing it in europe. By that time the chance is big we allready saw it .

And internet should be free instaid of a richmans watchdog. because thats what it is no more no less

21.5.2015 06:51 #3

doowop72

Canada can very well keep their Canadian laws there, thank you.

21.5.2015 20:23 #4

bhetrick

Quote: The data come from GEK-TEK International, which is a firm based in Los Angeles. GEK-TEK monitors online piracy and its business is to extract fees/settlements from alleged Internet piracy for its clients. So in layman's terms, these guys are pumping out their own imaginary numbers to drum up more business for themselves.

21.5.2015 23:24 #5

hearme0

Quote: On our film 'Expendables 3,' which has been illegally viewed more than 60 million times,
Really??? REALLY?!?!?!? Can they honestly conclude with any degree of certainty that this was downloaded 60 million times????

Of course this would have to be interpreted as 60 million "times" because they only know it's being downloaded by someone. They can't assume that one downloaded copy is in turn being acquired by any specific number of people that they make guesses on. BUT........that's likely what they do and when asked to produce results showing their findings, they probably skirt that too with bribery of the "man".

22.5.2015 01:11 #6

ronhondo

Originally posted by doowop72: Canada can very well keep their Canadian laws there, thank you. Their Communist Laws !

22.5.2015 18:42 #7

n4lne

Just get a seed box and use a VPN to retrieve the contents.
Problem solved!

24.5.2015 20:34 #8

pmshah

Originally posted by n4lne: Just get a seed box and use a VPN to retrieve the contents.
Problem solved!

Not always. I subscribed to a VPN service so that I could access sites which were blocked by the previous Indian government for political reasons. Some times I would choose a server based in the US to access material limited to the US users only. For whatever reason BitTorrent protocol was blocked on those servers by some US law.

24.5.2015 22:36 #9

n4lne

Originally posted by pmshah: Originally posted by n4lne: Just get a seed box and use a VPN to retrieve the contents.
Problem solved!

Not always. I subscribed to a VPN service so that I could access sites which were blocked by the previous Indian government for political reasons. Some times I would choose a server based in the US to access material limited to the US users only. For whatever reason BitTorrent protocol was blocked on those servers by some US law. I do not know of any seed boxes in the US and I would never trust one if there was. A VPN will not allow access if torrents services are blocked by the servers. I never use USA servers for anything important. The USA is the most backwards country in the world when it comes to the internet except for maybe China or North Korea.

24.5.2015 23:37 #10

blaster4

Originally posted by audvare: Quote: "On our film 'Expendables 3,' which has been illegally viewed more than 60 million times, the CAS only allowed 0.3% of our infringement notices through to their customers. The other 99.7% of the time, the notices went in the trash."
Still on about this crappy film? I guess nobody wanted to pay for it. Really should get over it and make something people actually want to pay for. I agree with you on that. The film-makers seem to think they have a God-given right to demand money, no matter how crappy the product.

27.5.2015 03:14 #11

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