User had their network suspended for 8 hours straight due to downloading pirated torrents; Comcast says further infractions could lead to account suspension
Comcast, one of the largest broadband Internet operators in the US, suspended the connection of a customer who downloaded pirated torrents for eight hours. By evaluating him as someone who has repeatedly and repeatedly violated copyrights, the company said that if it receives one more notification it will cut off the customer’s network for another 12 hours.
Faxed from Comcast (Image: Mike Mozart/ Flickr)
Comcast may suspend account if there is a new infringement
Xfinity, the mobile internet arm of operator Comcast, has issued a notice to a customer for repeated copyright infringement that violated the DMCA — Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The agreement is a guideline on how network providers should act when receiving notices of infringement of copyright.
However, the DMCA does not establish clear rules on how to punish users who infringe intellectual property. He just says that internet providers must take some kind of action to curb piracy. Furthermore, the agreement does not instruct how to deal with a specific type of customer: which infringes copyright several times.
As the warning emphasizes, the operator recognizes the customer as someone who has already violated copyrights before, and claims that he has already sent other types of notifications to the owner of the IP. Comcast hacked the user’s internet for 8 hours, claiming he downloaded pirated torrents.
“The next breach alert will result in the suspension of your Xfinity internet service by up to 12. Further notifications may again result in the suspension, or termination, of the Xfinity internet service. Other branded services may be terminated as well,” Comcast says in the notice.
There is no standard for suspending users accused of piracy in the US. When a Reddit user was subpoenaed for downloading Ubuntu Linux, also from Xfinity, comments in his post warned that most companies expected three warnings to suspend the service.
Operators are sued for not dealing with piracy
Comcast’s new warning warns that further infractions, such as downloading illegal torrents of movies and music, could actually lead to a customer’s Internet suspension. More than that, it can lead to the termination of other Xfinity services — which has never been signaled in other requests.
Another famous case of banning an American user is that of the broadband operator Cox Communications, which suspended for 6 months the services to a client that downloaded files without authorization. She was sued for $1 billion in court for failing to curb the activity of pirated customers.
Providers, such as Cox, of network have been pressured to take steps to precisely prevent customers who violated copyright more than once. This is also the case with another company in the field: Frontier Communications, which was sued by music labels that demanded the banning of users who illegally downloaded music. They are linked to entertainment giants such as Sony, Warner and Universal, owned by Comcast.
Source: TorrentFreak, Tecnoblog.
