'Six strikes' copyright scheme delayed

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The "six strikes" campaign to combat illegal downloading of copyrighted material in the United States was delayed because of Hurricane Sandy, officials said.

The Center for Copyright Information, created by the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America to coordinate the program, said the testing schedule of the anti-piracy scheme was seriously affected by storm damage, TG Daily reported Thursday.

Although being promoted as an educational service, punishments for those found repeatedly conducting illegal downloads of copyrighted material will include bandwidth throttling or even suspension of a user's Internet service completely.

Verizon, Time Warner, Cablevision, Comcast and AT&T have joined the campaign that will see ISPs send alerts to customers suspected of copyright infringements in a "six strikes and you're out" arrangement.

Those alerts, originally set to start by the end of this year, will now be delayed several months, the CCI said.

"Our goal has always been to implement the program in a manner that educates consumers about copyright and peer-to-peer networks, encourages the use of legal alternatives, safeguards customer privacy, and provides an easy-to-use independent review program for consumers to challenge alerts they believe they've received in error," CCI Executive Director Jill Lesser said in a statement.

"We need to be sure that all of our 'i's are dotted and 't's crossed before any company begins sending alerts, and we know that those who are following our progress will agree."