What is AT&T’s 6 Strike Policy?

By Paul Liu
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

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The Copyright Alert System, also known as Six Strikes program, is a significant development as far as the fight against online piracy is concerned. The system also marks an unprecedented level of co-operation between copyright holders and Internet Service Providers (ISP). The primary aim of the system is to identify and warn users who willingly participate in peer to peer sharing and torrenting. After a series of warnings, the system envisions a bigger action against those who continue to share files even after receiving repeated warning messages. While the program may have been founded under a positive premise, the privacy of the consumer is completely compromised.

AT&T Six Strikes Program
While the system is the brainchild of copyright holders such as MPAA and RIAA, the implementation is left to individual Internet Service Providers. AT&T has rolled out its own version of Six Strikes program with a focus on educating customers rather than punishing them. Seemingly lost in this policy is that your internet viewing privacy will be like an open book to the ISPs. As a staring measure, the company will send alerts to users who participate in sharing copyrighted material. If the users continue to share copyrighted files even after receiving 4 alerts, AT&T would ask them to educate themselves about the perils of copyright infringement on the internet before they are able to access other sites. Even though AT&T has decided that it will not throttle speeds or disconnect users, this may change in the future once the company evaluates its future course of action based on findings from this version of the rollout.

How To Maintain Your Privacy Under AT&T’s Six Strikes Program
As you can imagine, the Six Strikes program can cause significant disruptions in your internet connectivity. That’s why it makes sense to explore how you can get around the program especially if you participate in legal file sharing activities. Here are some ways in which you can keep your privacy in tact and beat the perpetrators of your privacy!:

Use of  Virtual Private Networks
A virtual private network is used by many organizations and individuals to secure their network connections. Using a VPN is indeed a great way to beat all kinds of monitoring systems to maintain your privacy, including AT&T’s Six Strikes program. The biggest advantage of using a VPN is that every bit of your internet traffic would be encrypted and nobody, not even AT&T, would be able to identify the sites that you are visiting. Plus VPNs do not throttle speed so you can carry on with your normal online activities without worrying about any kind of speed loss. By using a VPN, you can get rid of annoying messages from AT&T and escape disruptions in your connectivity. There are several reliable VPN providers like HideMyAss, StrongVPN, IPVanish, HideIPVPN and proXPN that guarantee excellent speed and offer a safe and secure online experience.

Use of Proxy Servers
Using a proxy server is another great way to circumvent the Six Strikes program. The proxy server adds a secure layer between the users and the websites that they visit so your personal details remain safe. However you must also keep in mind that proxy servers work only with browsers and they may leak your personal details in rare cases.

Conclusion
Since proxy servers may not protect you from constant monitoring and privacy, using a VPN is your best bet as far as fighting against AT&T’s Six Strikes program is concerned. It is better to use precautionary measures now since ISPs have taken the battle against online piracy to the next level, and by de facto have been able to invade your privacy as well. Additionally, if you do find that you are participating in illegal downloading, it would be advisable that you stop this behavior soon as the government and private sector are trying their best to find ways to destroy your privacy.

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April 9, 2013

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