Hollywood appears to be gearing up to renew its push for Internet service providers to take on the role of copyright police.
In its submission to the Obama administration's transition team,
the Motion Picture Association of America proposes that Internet service providers filter material they deem infringing and that they threaten to cut off users suspected of piracy.
"Achieving inter-industry cooperation in the fight against online piracy, including through automated detection and removal of infringing content is imperative to curb the theft of online content, and
is a priority of the MPAA and its member companies," the document states. "The MPAA views recent efforts by the governments of France and the United Kingdom to protect content online and facilitate
inter-industry cooperation as useful models."
France and the U.K. are considering versions of a "three strikes" policy, where ISPs could disconnect users who are accused of piracy on more
than one occasion. In the U.K., Virgin Media said this
summer that it would start sending warning letters to users believed to be sharing pirated music files, and that it might in the future disconnect them.
The MPAA has made no secret of its
hope that both Web filtering and three-strikes rules come to the U.S. But these proposals shouldn't gain any more traction now than in the past.
First of all, filters don't work. They
can't tell when people are making fair use of copyrighted material, such as by criticizing or parodying it. Filters also are notoriously bad at screening out material that's been encrypted. Yes, ISPs
might improve their filtering technology, but encryption techniques also will undoubtedly get better.
Additionally, ISPs also have very poor track records at identifying infringers.
Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Washington reported that they had
received hundreds of DMCA complaints wrongly accusing them of violating the copyright to a variety of books, movies and TV shows.
Aside from their dismal track records, there are good
reasons why ISPs shouldn't get in the business of disconnecting Web users. People use the Web to access all kinds of material, ranging from emails to news to photos. Laws mandating that people stop
using the Web would clearly raise huge First Amendment concerns. Likewise, laws that encourage ISPs to disconnect users also would threaten people's ability to access vital information.