Six Strikes, You're out!

First, a quick apology for not being as active here as I could be. I've just been getting buried in college work and haven't had a lot of time for numerous online activities besides just this group.

So the biggest ISPs in America have cut a backroom deal. They're going to monitor your internet usage, and will cut you off if you rack up six violations or "strikes". Oh and those violations? They don't have to actually be REAL violations. You just have to be ACCUSED of violating intellectual property rights. That's right folks, they are considering us all guilty until proven innocent!
Now...you CAN try and fight the accusations...but here's the kicker: You have to pay them $35 just to be allowed to take a shot at proving your innocence! That can be a lot of money depending on your situation. Me, for example, a poor college student without a lot of excess cash...that's about how much it costs to fill my car's gas tank.

Needless to say, this whole policy is just ripe for abuse. No requirement of evidence before they condemn you, all you'd have to do is get one pissed off person to file false accusations and BAM! you've struck out. Having to pay to fight the accusations...whatever happened to INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY?! And how will people with very tight budgets manage to work that out?
Then there's the fact that they target the entire customer for a violation. Do you live at home with relatives? Maybe you have a sister who loves to download songs to her ipod every night? Perhaps you have a douchebag brother who will be all "f*ck that sh*t" if you try and warn him about illegal downloads? Or maybe your family has THAT member...the one who's a total blonde airhead and somehow manages to make an "illegal" download while checking their email?
All those types of family members will rack up strikes. And then your whole household will be blacklisted. As far as I've seen, they do not allow exceptions, which makes me wonder how they will deal with large institutions like college campuses where there's no feasible way to keep every single student in check?

Here is a link to the petition against the policy. It is in place but it's not too late to get it repealed! If you get internet from one of the listed ISPs, make sure you sign and get everyone you know to sign as well.

act.demandprogress.org/letter/…?