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Internet Providers to Begin Warning Customers Who Pirate Content
In the coming months five of the nation's largest Internet service providers will begin implementing a program they hope will cut down on illegal downloads of copyrighted materials.
The program, called the Copyright Alert System, is being implemented by the five ISPs--AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon--rights holders, and industry groups including the Motion Picture Association of American and the Recording Industry Association of America.
The system will be overseen and largely run by the Center for Copyright Information, an organization composed of stakeholders including the RIAA, MPAA, and individual rights holders like Disney, Sony Pictures, and EMI.
The Center will use a service called MarkMonitor to monitor activity on peer-to-peer sharing networks and collect the Internet protocol (IP) addresses of those suspected of illegally sharing copyrighted materials.
These IP addresses will then be provided to the ISPs, which will match them with costumers who will receive an escalating series of warnings if the activity continues.
These will begin by notifying users of the suspected illegal activity, requirements that they acknowledge receiving the warnings, education about the possible consequences of copyright theft, and other measures including the throttling of the user's Internet connection.
ISPs are quick to point out, however, that the plan does not allow for the termination of a suspected user's Internet service.
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