@Angstrom

They don't spy on anyone, pretty much no ISP has the time nor resources to do that.

Most ISPs actually already have a three strikes style system, you just don't hear about it. However, I've never, ever seen a connection cut off because of it.

It works via the standard abuse notification system, addresses listed on WHOIS info for each ISP. The copyright holder, or those acting on their behalf (MediaDefender et al) sit on P2P networks harvesting IP addresses.

They then WHOIS these IPs, send an automated fill-in-the-blanks response to the ISP abuse address and the ISP essentially tidies it up and passes it onto the customer.

The issue with the three strikes is really down to the knee-jerk media reaction; in my experience with three different ISPs, the three strikes apply to the same set of files. So as long as you stop seeding that new episode of Lost when you get the warning, you aren't at risk.

I'd suggest people actually read the notices that are being sent out as well, they're far from nasty and actually indicate legal alternatives for buying music, and how to secure your networks.

Having only recently gotten two computers back (minus hard drives) following two years of not knowing whether or not I was going to be charged for distribution of child pornography for precisely the situation mentioned in the article, I'd very much expect this to be applied to those ambiguous cartoons.

I was an admin of a small forum for a counter-culture, e/n style site and someone reported that some images hosted in one of the 'OMG JAPAN LULZ' style galleries, and user posted images on the forum appeared to feature children.
Whilst some were undoubtedly offensive to a majority of people, not a single one was even remotely near 'professionally done' let alone realistic.

Empowering users to monitor and manage their own data usage by providing clearly what they're actually getting for their monthly fee is far, far better than lying about offering unlimited services and then telling people off when they actually try and use it as such.

However, many users are simply lazy when it comes to taking responsibility for their own actions and all too happy to believe that they can get something for nothing so will simply see this as getting less than before.

The user should also be warned when they are near their limit, and given the option of purchasing more, rather than being automatically and silently billed for any over-usage data transferred

This is not really unique.

I suggest you guys do a little research into a company called Phorm, who have deals with BT, Virgin and Orange in the UK to do exactly this.

That equates to around 60% of broadband users here. There's a bit of a revolt over it, thankfully, but that doesn't mean it won't happen anyway.