Somehow, ISPs including Comcast, Cablevision, Verizon, and Time Warner all caved into the demands of the MPAA and RIAA—the authoritative bodies of the movie and music industries, respectively—and agreed to throttle connection speeds of subscribers downloading pirated material. According to RIAA CEO Cary Sherman, the initiative will finally kick off on July 12th.
ISPs will adhere to a “graduated response” program: customers will receive educational notices for first offenses, followed by confirmation notices requiring an admission of guilt from the user if the pirating continues. If it persists further, then ISPs can go as far as denying users web access.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
[via Gizmodo]
