This company wants to block illegal P2P downloaders from using the Web until they pay a fine

Anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp says it’s working on a technology that will see suspected pirates blocked from using their Web browser until copyright infringement fines are paid.

According to TorrentFreak, the struggling company is looking for new ways to make money from users with the help of ISPs.

Currently, the company emails suspected infringers letting them know they could face a financial penalty for accessing copyrighted material, but explains the new system would see:

… Subscribers receive each [settlement] notice directly in their browser… Single notices can be read and bypassed similar to the way a software license agreement works [but] once the internet account receives a certain number of notices over a certain time period, the screen cannot be bypassed until the settlement payment is received.

Rightscorp, which trawls P2P sites looking for offenders, takes a cut of any settlements made so there’s a clear incentive for it to get ISPs on board.

With Scalable Copyright, ISPs will be able to greatly reduce their third-party liability and the music and home video industries will be able to return to growth along with the internet advertising and broadband subscriber industries.

The company believes it’s offering a “win-win” for ISPs that are liable to work to stop copyright infringement, offering something more scalable than takedown notices.

Whether ISPs buy into this aggressive regime, which is likely to dissuade customer sign up, remains to be seen.

➤ Rightscorp plans to hijack pirates’ browsers until a fine is paid [TorrentFreak]