After several big delays the Copyright Alert System, known as Six Strikes kicks off on Monday many months after the proposed rollout date was to begin. The ISPs-industry giants AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon - will launch their versions of the CAS on different days throughout the week. Comcast is expected to be the first, on Monday. So, now we get to watch people get falsely accused, those with open WiFi suddenly have to fear bogus slow downs to their networks and other assorted collateral damage. Oh, and does anyone actually expect to see a sudden spike in "sales"?
The CAS, designed as an "educational" service to combat casual piracy in the U.S., has been criticized as designed purely for corporate interests, at the expense of the average Internet user. While it doesn't require ISPs to cut off Internet access to repeat piratesas is the case in France and New Zealandit will issue escalating punishments to suspected pirates, severely reducing their connection speeds after five or six offenses.
