New Technologies for Battling Illegal Content Access

By Derek Maxson, Front Porch Inc.

After years of targeting individuals who loaded up their PCs with unauthorized copies of songs, movies and TV shows, copyright owners now are turning their attention to Internet service providers -- including cable ops, telcos and others -- whose broadband data networks are instruments of illegal content access and sharing of illegal files. Copyright owners want ISPs to take a stronger role in proactively notifying users of potential abuses.

The good news is that new technologies are emerging to help operators with these sticky concerns, including online messaging systems like the one diagramed below. These systems dispatch warnings directly to Internet-connected subs' PC screens if they're downloading unauthorized content. And, beyond heading off copyright abuse, an operator also can use these tools for other purposes including keeping customers updated on the likes of localized network issues.

Content Owners Are Serious

"Copyright theft has been allowed to run rampant on [ISPs'] networks under the guise of technological advancement," John Kennedy, chairman/CEO of the international recorded music industry organization IFPI, said in a January 2008 report. But Kennedy added that's changing as legal decisions, lobbying efforts and negotiations with ISPs build momentum for elevated responsibility among network providers.

"The whole music sector, governments and even some ISPs themselves are beginning to accept that carriers of digital content must play a responsible role in curbing the piracy that is threatening the future of all digital commerce," he said.

Ops As "Cops"

That means cable, telco and other Internet providers are suddenly being thrust into a central role as policing agents with responsibility for preventing illegal acquisition of copyrighted material.

Exactly how much liability or responsibility cable operators and other ISPs have for preventing illegal content access hasn't been established clearly in the U.S. However, in France, a new government policy requires that ISPs send notices to subscribers who are using high-speed connections repeatedly for illegal file sharing. Repeated abuse can result in forced suspension of service. Similar legislation is under consideration now in the U.K.

Regardless of locale, organizations including IFPI, the Motion Picture Association of America and other content holders are serious about bringing pressure on ISPs to curtail the flow of data bits associated with illegal downloading over rogue Web sites that let users fetch content without proper copyright authorization. At the same time, content holders are pressing for more help from ISPs in curtailing piracy as peer-to-peer networks that deliver unauthorized copies of songs and movies proliferate.

"The volume of peer-to-peer traffic online, dominated by copyrighted materials, is overwhelming…the question is how we collectively collaborate to address this," NBC Universal General Counsel Rick Cotton said at a Consumer Electronics Show panel in January.

Why Illegal Downloads Can Mean Lost Subs

For cable operators and telcos that once regarded themselves and their high-speed networks as passive intermediaries, the newfound responsibility comes as a challenge. Among actions demanded by some copyright holders, for instance, is an insistence that ISPs deny service to any individual user who has been caught downloading material illegally.

That means operators can be placed in the difficult position of having to cut off service to a paying customer, even if that subscriber doesn't realize that downloading certain content may be illegal.

Current Detection Tools

Content providers increasingly are using a range of tools, including watermarks and digital fingerprinting, to trace unauthorized downloads to particular users and, by association, their ISPs.

ISPs in turn, are implementing detection technologies at the network or client levels too, but are missing out on the opportunity to notify and educate users in real-time about potential abuse. Soon they may be required to take that extra step and be more proactive in stopping copyright abuse over their networks.

Solutions That Warn Subs

New tools are emerging to help operators live up to their new obligations. Among these are online messaging systems that dispatch notifications or warnings directly to the PC screens of Internet-connected customers during their online sessions. These messaging systems go beyond vehicles like e-mail or physical letters because they communicate directly to customers over a live connection, producing a persistent on-screen message users can't readily ignore.

One online customer service messaging solution, for instance, allows cable operators to serve messages directly to the browsers of individual customers or groups of customers across the network in a variety of formats, including interstitial alerts and page redirects.

In the event that cable providers receive cease-and-desist letters from copyright holders, demanding that Internet service be discontinued to customers who download content illegally, the messaging system offers an immediate way for operators to warn customers that they're in danger of losing service.

Sending a private, browser-viewed live message offers an effective way to deliver a warning - and potentially preserve a subscriber. In the end, that approach helps to improve the relationship with the copyright holder and can serve as a welcome notification to a customer who may not be aware of the illegality of downloading content without authorization.

More Strategies

Warning customers about illegal downloading isn't the only application for the live messaging systems. Cable operators including Ohio's Massillon Cable also use a messaging system to convey immediate information about localized network issues, for instance. Others also use the messaging systems to improve collections or to share information about changes to products and monthly rates. By leveraging their data networks as communication channels with their subscribers, they're gaining more effective alternatives for getting the right messages to the right customers at the right time.

The messaging system benefits innocent or uninformed consumers too, because it also offers a ready mechanism for letting subs know they may be veering into trouble for downloading or sharing content illegally. The ability for operators to get the word out on a mass scale with an effective and proactive messaging system dovetails with a widespread movement driven by content owners to enlist ISPs - either through voluntary accords or legislative action - in the battle against piracy.

Derek Maxson is founder/CTO at Front Porch Inc.