[misuse-permit]

> As for who pays for all this, the ISPs and copyright owners will share the costs of operating the program, sources said.

After reading this, I still don't understand how the RIAA/MPAA are convincing ISPs to get on board. What's in it for the ISPs besides a bunch of angry customers?

[anamax]

> What's in it for the ISPs besides a bunch of angry customers?

The RIAA/MPAA is telling ISPs "if you cooperate, we won't sue you." The ISP is thinking "If I cooperate, I'll lose N customers, which costs me less than being sued."

Sure, you'll be mad, but I'm pretty sure that the ISP is correct in thinking that the vast majority of its customers won't care.

[beloch]

Also worth noting:

The more effort the ISP's put into this initiative the more it costs them in terms of labor and upset customers. It therefore seems pretty obvious that the optimal solution for an ISP is to join the program but put in the minimum effort possible.

I predict that file-sharing tools will evolve much faster than the ISPs' half-hearted anti-piracy efforts. The result will be a lot like the RIAA lawsuits of the last few years. Occasionally someone will get unlucky, but the odds of getting caught will be so low that pirates will not be deterred to any significant degree. The only real result will be continued ill-will towards publishers, which will probably result in a net boost to piracy rates.

[forensic]

Cronyism

As both ISPs and the content owners become more monopolistic, their long-term class-linked interests become more aligned.

Monopolies cooperate with other monopolies to the strengthening of all monopolies in general.

[marcamillion]

Revenue share on content licensing.

The first step is to crack down on piracy. Next step is to 'bundle' licensing deals in Cable/Internet bills.