Top ISPs And Anti-piracy Group Team Up To Fine And Hijack Browsers Of Pirates

Anti-piracy group Rightscorp and some renowned Internet service providers are talking about ways to hijack browsers of pirates. The browsers of the alleged pirates will remain inaccessible to them until they pay a fine.

According to a report by Torrent Freak, Rightscorp continuously monitors BitTorrent networks and records the IP addresses of alleged pirates. Later, they send DMCA notices to the ISPs. The ISPs are expected to forward the notices to their subscribers along with a fine. The people receiving the notices do not bother to pay the fine. Now, Rightscorp wants to collaborate with ISPs to force the pirates to cough up the fines.

"An ISP Good Corporate Citizenship Program is what we feel will drive revenue associated with our primary revenue model. This program is an attempt to garner the attention and ultimately inspire a behavior shift in any ISP that elects to embrace our suggestions to be DMCA-compliant," Rightscorp said to the shareholders.

"In this program, we ask for the ISPs to forward our notices referencing the infringement and the settlement offer. We ask that ISPs take action against repeat infringers through suspensions or a redirect screen. A redirect screen will guide the infringer to our payment screen while limiting all but essential internet access."

Rightscorp also stated that they are having "some initial and very thorough discussions" with renowned ISPs to create program that others can replicate. The company believes that with the support from top ISPs, there can be a cultural shift in the number of people paying the fine. The company mentioned that it is their preferred approach that they advocate for an "ISP as an alternative to becoming a defendant in a litigation." It has to be seen if the ISPs would agree and team up with Rightscorp. Also, if the model can be replicated in other countries. However, websites like The Pirate Bay would not be bothered by this move by the anti-piracy group or ISPs.