Rightscorp Pressures ISPs To Hijack Pirates Browsers

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I have no idea how these people are still in business or why any ISP in its right mind would listen to them. The only thing Rightscorp is good at is losing millions of dollars every year and getting its ass handed to it in court.

Instead of merely forwarding settlement demands, Rightscorp proposes a system where the ISP hijacks subscribers’ browsers. Initially, this would only affect 10% of infringers but the number would gradually increase to 90%. The soft redirect will suspend Internet access until the subscribers acknowledge that they’ve read the notice. After five notices this switches to a hard redirect, which requires subscribers to pay up in order to browse the web again.
 
I believe the phrase "GO TO HELL" is very appropriate here. I do not see isp's implementing this system as their user base would jump ship fast
 
Fairly certain this practice would be quite unconstitutional. Not to mention, I'm sure the Net Neutrality rules mught have somethjbg to say about thjs, as well as the EFF, ACLU, and id imagine the NAACP might throw in for good measure
 
alxlwson said:
Fairly certain this practice would be quite unconstitutional. Not to mention, I'm sure the Net Neutrality rules mught have somethjbg to say about thjs, as well as the EFF, ACLU, and id imagine the NAACP might throw in for good measure
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A lot of shock and awe comments have nothing to do with reality. Sounds like they keep throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.
 
Cancel and switch to ....... who exactly. I have one ISP available in my area I get what ever shit they shovel at me. Honestly pirating stuff is too much of a hassle if the movie or game was shitty and not worth paying for it isn't worth my time to download crack and install it to play it and be disappointed by it. If the movie wasn't worth seeing in the theatre because it was mildly shitty then I can wait for the home release if it was still too shitty to bother with then then maybe a few years down the road it will be worth grabbing out of the $5 bin maybe .... assuming I haven't forgotten all about it and gone on with life.
In the few cases where a game comes out and it is worth my time and costs the full amount I will usually think it over and by the time I am done thinking it is up on Steam or Origin for a moderate discount, and if it turns out the discount is only because the community for it is dead now some 2-3 months later then the game was probably broken in some specific manner and I dodged a bullet (looking at you Division...).
 
Lakados said:
Cancel and switch to ....... who exactly. I have one ISP available in my area I get what ever shit they shovel at me. Honestly pirating stuff is too much of a hassle if the movie or game was shitty and not worth paying for it isn't worth my time to download crack and install it to play it and be disappointed by it. If the movie wasn't worth seeing in the theatre because it was mildly shitty then I can wait for the home release if it was still too shitty to bother with then then maybe a few years down the road it will be worth grabbing out of the $5 bin maybe .... assuming I haven't forgotten all about it and gone on with life.
In the few cases where a game comes out and it is worth my time and costs the full amount I will usually think it over and by the time I am done thinking it is up on Steam or Origin for a moderate discount, and if it turns out the discount is only because the community for it is dead now some 2-3 months later then the game was probably broken in some specific manner and I dodged a bullet (looking at you Division...).
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Please use some puncuation.
 
alxlwson said:
Fairly certain this practice would be quite unconstitutional.
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Just to stir up the hornet's nest, how exactly would one company telling another company to let its users know something be unconstitutional? By that logic ever pop up/redirect ad should be unconstitutional
 
sfsuphysics said:
Just to stir up the hornet's nest, how exactly would one company telling another company to let its users know something be unconstitutional? By that logic ever pop up/redirect ad should be unconstitutional
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Lawyers would probably argue it was a matter of choice, you choose to go to a website you choose to block or allow adds, in many cases you can't choose your ISP. Even if you did choose your ISP they would have to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were 100% correct in the block/redirect otherwise it would be arguably seen as either harassment or an unlawful refusal of service depending on where you lived. There are a number of consumer protection laws that I am sure any decent lawyer could bend to suit their need.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Just to stir up the hornet's nest, how exactly would one company telling another company to let its users know something be unconstitutional? By that logic ever pop up/redirect ad should be unconstitutional
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There is a difference between advertisement, and and full blown browser hi-jack. You can't legally interrupt someone's service in the manner described without first having a court order. Now, the ISP can interrupt their service to you for lack of bill payment to them directly. What they cannot do is continue to charge you money for said service, while at the same time locking you out of it for a third party civil liability without the courts approving it. There is due process even in civil liability.
 
Rightscorp, this is conspiracy to commit a crime, specifically the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This should be brought to the authorities immediately.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Just to stir up the hornet's nest, how exactly would one company telling another company to let its users know something be unconstitutional? By that logic ever pop up/redirect ad should be unconstitutional
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I'm not sure where it would fit in the constitution, but it certainly seems to run afoul of 18 USC - 1951

At least in my opinion.
 
maxius said:
I believe the phrase "GO TO HELL" is very appropriate here. I do not see isp's implementing this system as their user base would jump ship fast
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I have to disagree cause we all have so many ISP options to choose from?

Let's see, I have Cox Cable, Century Link DSL, and even worse, two bit crappy wireless carriers and stalite from Dish or Dirrect .... or both. Only one of these supports a decent connection and guess which one it is?
 
raz-0 said:
I'm not sure where it would fit in the constitution, but it certainly seems to run afoul of 18 USC - 1951

At least in my opinion.
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(a)
Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
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Ummmm, no.

See, break this down a little as it does come in sections so to speak.

Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce,
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Now I can see this, digital goods, internet business, this part looks like it flies OK.

by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to
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But here we have a problem as defined in the law itself;
(1) The term “robbery” means the unlawful taking or obtaining of personal property from the person or in the presence of another, against his will, by means of actual or threatened force, or violence, or fear of injury, immediate or future, to his person or property, or property in his custody or possession, or the person or property of a relative or member of his family or of anyone in his company at the time of the taking or obtaining.
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Here you are going to have to sell the idea that denial of a service constitutes a loss of property and I am thinking that will not be an easy sell.

(2) The term “extortion” means the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right.
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Same here, a service is not generally consider property.

Furthermore both of these definitions make strong inferences of physical violence or the threat of said violence.

So in short, no robbery, no extortion, no violation of the law pursuant to 18 USC - 1951

Unless you see something in it I do not, or unless the Supreme Court has made an very broad interpretation in a decision.
 
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Stop pirating and these companies would have no grounds to exist - pretty easy solution.

Steam/Origin have generous refund policies -> that takes care of most gaming needs and potential launch-day fiascoes.
Movies/Tv shows -> either wait for Amazon Prime/Netflix or go to a fucking Redbox if you're cheap.

Oh what? You are an entitled POS who thinks you can set prices and decide when/how to consume content? GTFO.
 
LOL, you are funny if you really believe that. They'll find a way to exist, if piracy is gone, they'll just make up new numbers.
 
schoolslave said:
Stop pirating and these companies would have no grounds to exist - pretty easy solution.

Steam/Origin have generous refund policies -> that takes care of most gaming needs and potential launch-day fiascoes.
Movies/Tv shows -> either wait for Amazon Prime/Netflix or go to a fucking Redbox if you're cheap.

Oh what? You are an entitled POS who thinks you can set prices and decide when/how to consume content? GTFO.
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Oh, I wish I could think as simply as you do.
 
Airbrushkid said:
All you need to do is use a VPN and you keep browsing.
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But now your entire internet connection is dependent upon the reliability and performance of said VPN. If I'm paying for 100/50mbps cable connection I might not be able to find a VPN that can keep up.
 
lcpiper said:
People put way too much faith in VPNs.
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Only people who can deal to a VPN is five eyes/echelon. I dont give a fuck about those public servants.
Rightscum etc have no play with a good vpn service. Toooo hard.
 
maxius said:
I believe the phrase "GO TO HELL" is very appropriate here. I do not see isp's implementing this system as their user base would jump ship fast
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That's assuming they live in one of the rare places that has more than one broadband ISP :p
 
schoolslave said:
Stop pirating and these companies would have no grounds to exist - pretty easy solution.

Steam/Origin have generous refund policies -> that takes care of most gaming needs and potential launch-day fiascoes.
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I agree. When it comes to games, pirating them is just silly these days. Just buy them, reward the developers and we get more good games. Even without eh moral argument, it is still just easier in today's world of Steam to buy the damned things than fuck around with various cracks and patches in order to get things to work, and wonder if those cracks came with free keyloggers

schoolslave said:
Movies/Tv shows -> either wait for Amazon Prime/Netflix or go to a fucking Redbox if you're cheap.
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I'm a little more forgiving when it comes to Movies/TV series. It is a royal pain in the ass to deal with all the ridiculous exclusivity deals, and a billion different unique sources, region based limitations, the need to put up with DRM, the poor quality of many streaming sources etc. etc.

When the Movie TV industry stops pissing on their customers, and offer a single unified interface through which you can get all content without having to change your cable package, where all regions gain access tot he same content at the same time, etc. etc. Then I'll be full on "you should definitely buy movies TV shows" but until then, I understand why people might be pissed off and not do it.

They need to do what Steam did for games, and what Spotify and Apple did for music. Make it easy and convenient to buy the content legally, and most people probably will. Right now - without even getting into the "paying vs. free" argument, it is easier to pirate a movie or a TV show than it is to buy it. As long as this is the case, there will always be piracy, and lots of it.

Make it easier and more convenient to buy it legally, and people will, just like they did with Steam and Spotify.

This comic is why the majority of piracy happens. People WANT to legally pay for their content, but the industry just makes it so damned impossible to do so.
 
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