http://torrentfreak.com/cox-disconnects-alleged-pirates-from-the-internet-080930/
Cox Communications is a very large Internet service provider(ISP) with 3.5 million Internet subscribers. The anti-piracy lobby is putting a ton of pressure on ISPs to prevent their customers from downloading copyright infringement material. Most of the ISPs are sending emails to their consumers when they are caught downloading such material. These e-mails would consist of warnings, maybe possible fine after enough warnings. Cox however is taking it a step further.
Cox Communications will take away a customer's Internet and say, "Under the DMCA, we have the responsibility to temporarily disable your Internet access, until such time as you take the necessary steps to remove the infringing files and to prevent further distribution of copyrighted material." The article argued this statement by Cox saying the DMCA does not allow Cox to disable a customers Internet access, and they need to warn someone before further measures are taken. Usually for a first time offender, the Internet may be down for an hour or so. The second and third offenders suffer dramatically however.
If a customer is caught two or three times, Cox disables their Internet for good. These types of actions by big companies could cause a drastic drop in the amount consumers they have. I personally have Cox Communications and I had mixed feelings about it. If this had happened to me, I might have been a little more than upset. I would try to switch to Verizon Fios.
--- Ryan Wettlaufer
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2 comments:
Cox Communications has no right to do that. The warnings and maybe fines, like other ISPs is fine, but taking away someone's internet is absurd. Even when they get their internet back, they will probably switch providers and start their illegal activities all over again. Some may heed these warnings which is good, but those who aren't very bothered will just start again.
It's curious as to why Cox would do something like this. They probably alienate a lot of their customers by doing this and also force people to switch. I wonder if they're getting compensated by the RIAA/MPAA for doing this stuff because they aren't REQUIRED to monitor if their users pirate material. It just seems fishy that they would do this when other ISPs aren't.
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