George Landrith, President of Frontiers of Freedom, made the following statement on May 28, 2014 about the Copyright Alert System:
“The Copyright Alert System (CAS) is a voluntary initiative between leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and copyright holders designed to reduce pirating of digital material — often music, movies and shows. The CAS uses a progressive series of six graduated notifications aimed at educating consumers when unlawful pirating appears to be occurring on their servers or accounts. The good news is that this voluntary effort is working.
“During the first 10 months of its existence,1.3 million alerts were sent to 722,820 customer accounts. The vast majority of the alerts (more than 70%) were at the initial educational phase. Less than 3% of those alerts progressed to the final mitigation phase.
“Frontiers of Freedom believes that intellectual property needs to be protected for a variety of reasons. First, it incentivizes creativity and unleashes innovation. Second, property rights are foundational to a free society. Third, interestingly, the U.S. Constitution specifically protects property rights (be they land, personal possessions, or intellectual property). The Founders realized the importance of property rights and they wanted to unleash the enterprise and resourcefulness of America.
“Simply put, it is great to see that the Copyright Alert System has had a very positive first 10 months. Voluntary educational initiatives are a wonderful way to reduce piracy of copyrighted content. Of course, there must be a multifaceted approach to stopping pirating of intellectual property. We must prevent the Chinese and Russians from stealing American intellectual property, but we must also stop Americans — many of whom may do it unwittingly — from participating in the theft of the intellectual property. This is why we are encouraged by the Copyright Alert System. It is a voluntary system that helps educate Americans and reduce copyright infringement by voluntary cooperation. There will be cases where law enforcement must stop pirating. But in many instances — perhaps most — this voluntary educational approach will help reduce pirating and protect intellectual property rights. This is something that benefits all Americans.”
For more information about the Copyright Alert System, go to The Center for Copyright Information.
