The Internet has growing pains right now.   The whinging from the corporations is effecting recent government policy decisions about what and how things are downloaded on the net.

“Hollywood studios, recording labels, artists and internet service providers have created a program to alert internet subscribers when their accounts are used to access movies, songs and other content that entertainment companies consider unauthorized.

The new “copyright alerts” system is intended to educate consumers about online piracy by sending up to six electronic messages notifying subscribers when their accounts are used to download or share such content. Internet service providers in the U.S. would send the alerts to a subscriber after receiving a notice from a copyright holder.”

You see friends, money is being made on the Net, but not enough…never will it be enough.  Presently commercial greed is in the drivers seat, so hang on tight for awhile, it is going to get bumpy.

“Consumers who ignore the notices could face “mitigation measures,” such as slower Internet connections or redirection to a special website that provides information about copyright protections. Internet service providers would not be required to terminate any subscriber accounts or hand over subscriber names to copyright holders.”

You feel that?  That was your activity online being monitored to even a greater extent than what it is now.  Let’s take a peek at who is organizing this little shindig.

“Among the groups and companies participating in the new program: the Motion Picture Association of America and member companies including Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; the Recording Industry Association of America and member companies including Universal Music Group Recordings and Warner Music Group; Independent Film & Television Alliance; and internet services providers including AT&T Inc., Comcast Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.”

Yep.  The usual suspects, righteously protecting their products the world wide.  One commenter on the article describes my attitude toward these new measures perfectly…

“This seems like a good incentive to develop some hardcore personal encryption software.
I’m paying them to transmit my bits and bytes, not to look at them. This is a principle I do not plan to simply roll over and abandon.”