Leaked docs reveal TPP will force ISPs to hand over copyright infringers’ identities

Pretty soon movie, music, illegal software downloaders could have authorities breathing down their neck if the forthcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement comes into being. This was revealed when WikiLeaks document dump of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement was made public.

The dumped documents reveal that the TTP trade agreement, if and when it will come into being, compels Internet service providers to hand over the identities of copyright infringers to rights holders.

The dumped documents were studied by ZDNet and it has found that ISPs are about to be responsible for keeping track of which of their customers frequently infringe upon copyrighted material and for reporting those infringing users to content creators.

The ZDNet article states the Article I7 of the upcoming TTP trade agreement mandates that each nation that is party to the TPP must establish a judicial or administrative procedure through which rights holders can obtain the identity of a copyright infringer from an ISP in a timely and efficient manner” so they can protect themselves against further infringement.

What this will mean on ground is that the ISPs will have to turn over data if you download any copyright infringing material from Internet, to copyright holders/mandated authorities.

ZDNet further notes that this latest version of TPP seems to have significantly altered the language to favor rights holders compared to earlier drafts. In earlier versions, for example, TPP did not want ISPs to bear major costs for tracking down and identifying alleged pirates. ISPs in this version of TPP, which WikiLeaks claims is the final version, will now have to “expeditiously remove or disable access to material residing on their networks or systems upon obtaining actual knowledge of the infringement.”