The saga apparently does continue. As was previously reported by Neowin, American ISPs have agreed to a "six strikes" voluntary contract with the music and movie industry. Users cannot appeal the first "alert", nor the second, third or fourth alert. They can only appeal the fifth or sixth alert. In other words, when the ISP decides to use "mitigation measures." Now, according to Ars Technica, the head of the RIAA says that the initial alerts are like traffic warnings, so who would want to appeal those?

On the fifth or six alert, a user can pay $35 and appeal to a new independent body funded by the ISPs and the content owners. Now the independent body will not accept any defense, they only accept the six defenses covered by the memorandum of understanding. Here they are:

(i) Misidentification of Account - that the ISP account has been incorrectly identified as one through which acts of alleged copyright infringement have occurred.

(ii) Unauthorized Use of Account - that the alleged activity was the result of the unauthorized use of the Subscriber’s account of which the Subscriber was unaware and that the Subscriber could not reasonably have prevented.

(iii) Authorization - that the use of the work made by the Subscriber was authorized by its Copyright Owner.

(iv) Fair Use - that the Subscriber’s reproducing the copyrighted work(s) and distributing it/them over a P2P network is defensible as a fair use.

(v) Misidentification of File - that the file in question does not consist primarily of the alleged copyrighted work at issue.

(vi) Work Published Before 1923 - that the alleged copyrighted work was published prior to 1923.

Now what about the "open WiFi" defense? A user can only use it once. If a user wins one of these challenges, they get their $35 back and the "alert" is taken off their account, though no other alerts are. The next alert will therefore begin the "mitigation" process once more. These alerts do eventually expire; any subscriber who makes it 12 months without receiving a notice has their slate wiped clean.

Dear Valued Verizon Customer,

Verizon has been notified that copyrighted content may have been shared using your Internet connection without permission of the copyright owner.

What does this mean to me?

Content owners (for example, artists, moviemakers, authors) and their representatives routinely monitor peer-to-peer and file sharing networks to see if their content (like music, movies, and TV shows) is being shared without their permission (without it being paid for). If they notice somebody sharing their content without their permission through a Verizon account, they inform Verizon by sending us a notice along with information about the copyrighted work and the Verizon Internet protocol (IP) address of the computer sharing the content. As the primary account holder, you are responsible for making sure your account is not used for copyright infringement. Sharing content without the copyright owner's permission is a violation of U.S. copyright laws, and our terms of service and acceptable use policy.

What was shared and when?

File Name: Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday - Roman Reloaded The Re-Up (iTunes Edition)
Content Title: BEEZ IN THE TRAP
Timestamp: 07-08-2014 21:54:41 UTC
IP Address: redacted
Notice ID: 22292537909

Did Verizon give the content owners my personal information?

No, we will not share your personal information with the content owner without either your permission or the receipt of a court order or subpoena. The way the process works, the content owner provides Verizon with an IP address. We then match the IP address to a Verizon account and contact the account owner directly on their behalf without identifying you.

What do I need to do now?

If you have been downloading or sharing content illegally, you must stop doing so immediately. Make sure that everyone who uses your Internet connection knows that you received this alert and advise them to use only legal sources for music, television and movie content, For information about the many ways to find the music, movies and TV shows you want legally, please see copyrightinformation.org/a-better-way-to-find-movies-tv-music/.

Secure your home wireless network by activating encryption on your modem or router so that nobody who is unauthorized to use it is able to do so. To learn more about securing your home wireless network, please visit verizon.com/support/residential/internet/fiosinternet/networking/setup/security/124980.htm

What happens if Verizon receives more copyright notices about my account?

Verizon will notify you by email if we receive another copyright notice about your account, and, if we continue to receive notices, we will re-direct your Internet browser to a special landing page where we will ask you to acknowledge receipt of the alert and to view an online copyright education video. If we still continue to receive notices of alleged infringement about your account, we will temporarily reduce the speed of your Internet service for a period of 2 or 3 days. We will tell you before we do that and give you the opportunity to seek review by an independent reviewer of the validity of the alerts you received. Accordingly, you may wish to keep any information that you feel could be used during the independent review process to show that you did not violate the copyright laws. For more information on the Copyright Alert Program and the independent review process, please visit copyrightinformation.org.

What if I still have questions, where can I go?

To review frequently asked questions about copyrights, learn about our Copyright Alert Program, or get information on where to obtain legitimate copies of copyrighted music or videos, please visit verizon.com/copyrightfaq or copyrightinformation.org.


We appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.


Sincerely,


Your Verizon Team