Implementation and Success Analysis of Various Global Graduated Response Programs for Piracy with Special Focus on the "Six Strikes" Policy

Abstract

Since the advent and perpetual improvement of Internet technologies, digital piracy has become ubiquitous. As a result, digital piracy is a global issue which transcends national borders, governments, and legal jurisprudence. Several players such as national music and movie industries, political groups, and Internet freedom groups have become embroiled within the issue in order to better understand digital piracy. With this interest, a new field focusing on piracy research has emerged and researchers have begun to understand the demographics, motivations, methodologies, and implications behind Internet piracy. Meanwhile, industries argue that piracy hurts their bottom line and deters artists from creating new content. Through these arguments, these industries have been somewhat successful in implementing anti-piracy programs globally such as in France and most recently the United States. The new program, called the Copyright Alert System (CAS) or "Six Strikes", went into effect in early 2013 and it is unclear how effective it will be. This thesis will assess the success of international anti-piracy plans such as in France and China in relation to the U.S. plan. Further, this thesis will conduct and analyze a survey study to understand how U.S. Internet users will react to the new plan.