WikiLeaks: ISPs to hand over copyright infringer details under TPP

[Turborama]

Source: Zdnet

The TPP will force ISPs to give up the details of customers who allegedly infringe copyright and allow rights holders to seek both compensatory and punitive damages as well as loss of profit, according to WikiLeaks.


By Corinne Reichert | October 12, 2015 -- 06:19 GMT (14:19 GMT+08:00)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will force internet service providers (ISPs) to give up the details of copyright infringers so that rights holders can protect and enforce their copyright through criminal and civil means with few limitations, according to the intellectual property chapter released by WikiLeaks over the weekend.

=snip=

Section G of the leaked chapter covers the enabling of rights owners to protect digital copies of their "works, performances, and phonograms", giving authors the exclusive right to mandate the terms of access to their works, while Section H discusses enforcement mechanisms for online copyright infringement.

Under Article H4(2), infringers must pay damages in civil cases to rights holders that are "adequate to compensate for the injury the right holder has suffered because of an infringement of that person's intellectual property right", as well as, under H4(3) "pay the right holder the infringer's profits that are attributable to the infringement".

In regards to calculating damages, Article H4(4) provides that the judiciary in each nation must have consideration of "any legitimate measure of value", including lost profit, the market value of the infringed material, and the RRP.

Each party to the TPP must also pre-establish a framework for calculating damages and additional damages under H7, with the former to be compensatory for the harm suffered by the rights holder, as well as punitive to deter future copyright infringement (H9), and the latter to take into account the nature of the infringement and again the need for deterrence (H10).

Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/article/wikileaks-isps-to-hand-over-copyright-infringer-details-under-tpp/

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If ISPs are under such obligations, perhaps they will block access to all sharing sites which could lead to the death of piracy as we know it. Something is bound to emerge from the ashes, but what?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Now obviously sometimes copyright infringement is blatantly obvious, but sometimes it isn't.

User A shares a video that isn't immediately obvious as having professional quality production values, and could simply be thought of as something user A shot him or herself if copyright is not provided along with the video.

Users B through Z download that video.

The copyright holder finds out, demands info, finds out who users A-Z are, and smacks them all up with bills to cover the cost of the video AND lawyers fees, tech fees, etc.

Something that retails for maybe 10 or 20 bucks ends up cost a couple of dozen people (or in reality, probably more like thousands) hundreds of dollars.

Hell, I can see people deliberately trolling this. Making lower quality stuff that LOOKS like its not copyright worthy material and disseminating it on the sly specifically for the purpose of then slapping downloaders with heavy bills.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. There is a push for ISPs to be the traffic cop of the internet

and deciding what content they will allow customers to connect to.
China is doing this already.

The anti-piracy issue has given rise to what are called "copyright trolls" who send thousands of illegal complaints to users, demanding a small
payment for infringement, and many do pay out of fear of having their connection cut off, even tho they have not downloaded any copyright material.
The biggest offender is called Rights Corp....but more and more ISPs are now on to them.

Overlooked in teh push for monitoring internet use is the fact that there is much legitimate file sharing going on.

The major ISPs may be happy to track usage, esp. if they can make any money doing so, other ISPs will not want the expense of tracking and reporting customer footprints across the web.Because of this, there will be an increase of VPN service,s which do not keep records of use.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. There is also this:

A more vague provision suggests that countries should encourage ISPs (including search engines and hosting services) to remove or disable content, if a court deems it to be copyright infringing. This means that foreign court orders could be applied to block content in other countries.

The above is worrisome, but the actual text specifies that countries should “induce” ISPs, not force them.

In a similar vein, the agreement specifies that countries should offer ISPs “legal incentives” to “cooperate with copyright owners to deter the unauthorized storage and transmission of copyrighted materials…”

Again, this doesn’t mean that all ISPs have to monitor for copyright infringements, but it will ‘reward’ those who do.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who released a detailed analysis, this effectively means that ISPs “are roped in as copyright enforcers.”

https://torrentfreak.com/leaked-tpp-chapter-proposes-drastic-copyright-changes-151011/

[kelliekat44]

4. Good! Lots of hardworking innovative folks lose money through infringement nt

[Helen Borg]

5. The fact that people infringe only shows that...

The price of the product is too high to begin with.

[Turborama]

6. Plus, a lot of the time it's unavailable where they live

To either watch on TV/in the cinema or buy.

[fasttense]

8. Yea excessively long pantents and copyrights are wonderful

Like that person who has the copyrights to words of the Happy Birthday song. That person made tens of millions of dollars off it and they didn't write it. A long, dead relative wrote it.

Come to find out, the copyright was Only for the music. The tune was used for numerous other little songs like Happy Easter. So all this time the scoundrel was preventing people from saying Happy Birthday for fear of copyright infringement.

Then there is the guy who bought the copyrights to some everyday drugs that routinely prevent serious illnesses. Then he jacked up the price so high people are suffering from these easily cured disease again because they can't afford the huge cost of the drug.

But yeah, excessively long patents and copyrights are a wonderful thing.

By the way, does it bother anyone else that a TRADE agreement is dictating the rules and laws for our judiciary? And didn't some "free" trade supporter claim these agreements wouldn't cause a change in our laws. Hell they dictate what our laws should be.

[Evergreen Emerald]

7. Copyright infringment is a huge problem for Americans

Other countries do not have the same copyright laws that we have and have been stealing American's ideas with no regard.

[BillZBubb]

9. It is not a huge problem for this American.

And by "ideas" are you referring to patent infringement, not copyright? The copyright complaints have more to do with movies and music, ie entertainment.

I do not want governments monitoring people's usage on the internet or controlling content. Broad brush "solutions" to protect those who are effected by internet copyright infringement are recipes for corporate and government overreach. This TPP "solution" is an example of that.

[Blue_Tires]

10. What's wrong with cracking down on piracy?

[Gregorian]

11. I've heard this will kill free speech.

I'm totally drawing a blank, but the story was that you can't use words or concepts that someone like Cocacola, or Microsoft have already decided are theirs. I shouldn't post when I'm not clear of the facts. Let it pass, and we'll find out.

This is not a good thing by any means.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

12. Does this cover the cellphone videos people take at concerts?

A lot of those end up posted on YouTube. I'm sure the performers copyright their shows.

Also, what about parodies that use original music, like the large number of "Let It Go" (Frozen) take offs?

For example, "Let It Go - In Real Life," which has 78 million views:

"Anticipated profits" is a big thing in the TPP. If you have environmental rules that are enforced, then the corporation can sue for loss of anticipated profits because they can't pollute the environment. The case is not heard in the courts, but before lawyers hired by the corporations.

TPP has to be stopped!