Comcast Announces an Agreement with the MPAA to Stop Pursuing Illegal File Sharers

[reaper]

Following a series of meetings ending on Monday, Comcast and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) would like to announce an agreement to stop all ongoing and future pursuits of alleged illegal file sharers. There will be no more threats, no more lawsuits, and no more ISP policing, thanks to a new program developed by Comcast titled “CPP” (Copy Paid Protection), which is new software technology that has been in development for over four years.

Comcast subscribers will sign confidential agreements to have this new software installed on their PCs and devices which will allow subscribers to participate in the CPP program. Subscribers are then legally protected against any future threats related to illegal file sharing.

Here’s how this new technology works. Once installed, the software allows participating users to willingly pay two cents for each download, whether that’s a torrent movie file, or any other type of movie file found on any file sharing site globally, it works the same. The prepared file ready to download contains a special CPP code in the file name (prepared by the uploader), which denotes compliance in the program. A pop-up “CPP pay now” button appears at the onset of a pre-coded (CPP) movie file download, so that users can click on the button to offer (pay) their two cents. By use of the software, the MPAA gets paid the money they claim to be losing due to piracy which is estimated to be in the billions. Each time a CPP coded file is shared elsewhere, an extra digit is added in the coding to represent the total times the file has been shared previously. The software also provides an option for users to send anonymous ratings on the movies they have watched to the MPAA, as a means of support and to further assist in their ‘Box Office Statistics Surveys”, which can now be done from the convenience of their homes.

While we realize this is a daring move, it’s a complete win for the movie industry. This will not only increase their revenues, it will save millions in litigation costs as well. When you consider what Malibu Media, Prenda Law, and other related firms have spent on pursuing alleged illegal file sharers, they will no longer have any piracy related expenses. This will allow the movie industry more time to concentrate on other concerns. In this program, Comcast is promoting itself as the Internet Service Provider seeking “piracy neutrality” for all. Comcast has agreed to take no percentage at all of the two cents paid for every download, therefore allowing the movie industry to reap the benefits all by themselves.

Here’s another fantastic advantage for the movie industry, downloaders also have an option in the CPP program which allows them to pay any additional monetary amount of their choosing, if they feel the movie is an exceptionally good one, and they would like to pay a few more cents as an additional show of appreciation. If they feel it’s not really worth watching after all, they are still out the two cents originally paid, unfortunately. Comcast has no intentions of asking the MPAA for refunds based on low opinions of any movies.

Recently, MPAA Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd had stated that he wanted to engage in more technology, when he was addressing the subject of movie piracy. While this may not have been exactly what he had in mind at the time, it’s a brilliant and perfect solution to stop all the continuous debates related to movie piracy.

Also, in order to reduce movie theater costs of employees having to police for recording devices, the MPAA has agreed to allow use of high-tech and other recording devices at theaters, providing those sharing the films on popular file sharing sites only share the high quality recordings, and keep the extremely poor cam recordings for their personal use only. Recorders at theaters will be offered front row seats, and there will be a limit of 10 seats allowed for such use at each movie.

Comcast and the MPAA are proud to announce this ground breaking agreement which we believe ushers in a new era of Internet freedom, and would like to encourage all other ISPs to participate in the CPP program. The full agreement can be read in detail here.