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ISPs Join Fight Against Piracy: Is Yours One of Them?

25.03.2009
The Recording Industry Association of America's in its battle against illegal file sharing is now underway. AT&T and Cox both confirmed to PC World that they have begun cooperating with the RIAA in some form. Comcast did not say it was working with the RIAA, but did say it was forwarding messages on the behalf of the recording industry to customers. Still a mystery is to what extent ISPs are cooperating with the RIAA and what it takes to get booted from your ISP for illegally swapping copyright protected content online.

The RIAA announced the last December: Instead of targeting individual file sharers with lawsuits, as it had done in the past, the organization would work with ISPs to find suspected offenders and -- after a series of warnings -- potentially cut off their Internet access altogether. The RIAA initially said "major ISPs" would participate, revealing neither specific companies nor a firm timeframe for the program's launch.

A string of media reports and blog postings Wednesday fueled speculation about participation by AT&T, Cox Communications, and Comcast. Much of the information cited, however, came from unnamed sources and contained conflicting information. I spoke with representatives from each of the three companies to sort it all out.

RIAA's Original Plan

The RIAA's outlined the following procedure:

• The RIAA contacts an ISP after identifying a suspected illegal file sharer on its network.