Attempt To Trigger Six Strikes Comes Up Empty

Right after the “six strikes” Copyright Alert System (CAS) launched, I heard from a few people saying that it was actually likely to increase their file sharing activities, in part because it clearly laid out the “risks” of doing so. In other words, rather than educating people that file sharing was “wrong,” the CAS seemed to clarify the actual risks involved. Of course, some of the CAS punishments can be somewhat severe, so I do wonder how accurate those predictions were. However, apparently some folks have tried and failed to get themselves a strike under the CAS system, according to a report in DailyDot (which, bizarrely, never seems to name who conducted the actual study). They chose some popular content — including some Rihanna songs, since Rihanna songs have been targeted under both France’s and New Zealand’s three strikes systems. They found torrents via The Pirate Bay, downloaded the works and then left the files available for weeks… and nothing.

Obviously, this is just one test on one ISP (Verizon) with just a few files. That’s hardly indicative of what’s actually happening with the overall CAS. However, it does make me wonder, if we start seeing more, similar reports, if it will lead more people to actually look at the whole system as making it more enticing to share files than before. Obviously, that would be the exact opposite of what the program’s supporters would like.

At the very least, however, it makes me wonder (yet again) why the industry is putting so much effort towards punishment and enforcement, and so little towards actually adding value and giving people good reasons to buy.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story





This entry was posted in Syndicated. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.