Cox Targets Pirates With “10+ Strikes” Program

Preferring to handle file-sharing in its own way, Cox was one of the few large ISPs that refused to take part in the United States’ “six-strikes” scheme.

Cox has 3.5 million subscribers, give or take, and remain one of a few larger providers not participating in the Copyright Alert System.

If you are unclear as to what the 6 strike system is, you’re not alone. We know that copyright infringers can be warned and after the 5th or 6th warning, measures may be taken. It is also likely that your internet speeds would be reduced and eventually your account removed and your information given to copyright holders. Still confused? Then welcome to the club. No one really seems completely sure how this will work.

It went live On February 25th and we were told “Over the course of the next several days our participating ISPs will begin rolling out the system,” by CCI Executive Director Jill Lesser.

“Practically speaking, this means our content partners will begin sending notices of alleged P2P copyright infringement to ISPs, and the ISPs will begin forwarding those notices in the form of Copyright Alerts to consumers,” she adds.

Cox has always had a system in place and will continue to use it. The only difference is how their system works is pretty clear and most likely and indication of how the 6 strikes system will work in a more relaxed fashion.

TorrentFreak was told that you would get a notice when a second DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice is received for your account. You would be told how you are infringing and can call Cox to discuss it. From here your account can be interrupted should it continue. More complaints means your account is locked until you call.

Should you graduate to 10 or 12 complaints your situation will be evaluated and since it is very rare that they reach this level they only say that each case is evaluated one by one.

Wondering how you can avoid these problems? Honestly, it is simple. If you are downloading “free” games, movies, music or apps that you know are not free then you could be caught. The most popular way to do this is by torrents which we explain in this video: