Digital surveillance, ISP's and the RIAA

After watching news about how the RIAA is recruiting ISP's to spy on their customers in order to prevent copywright infringement, I'm starting to see more of this happening around the world.

Even on Slashdot today, Irish ISP's have settled with their music Industry's equivalent of the RIAA. ISP's in Ireleand will first warn their customers and then disconnect them if they continue to involve themselves in illegal downloading.

As this practice begins to take hold around the world, there is going to be some defensive actions taken by many. I predict that people will either switch ISP's or there will be a new push to encrypt much of your internet traffic.

ISP's will employ deep packet inspection to validate the contents of information and use other tactics to identify trading of copywright material. Measures will be taken by others to avoid these offensive maneuvers. Users of the internet will always be one step ahead. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

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