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The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) will officially begin cracking down on illegal downloading and other various acts of online piracy by rolling out its Copyright Alert System (CAS) sometime in the next few weeks. The CAS will be used to deliver copyright infringement notices to internet service providers from content owners who detect users that are illegally downloading copyrighted material.

The notices from CAS will be just that: a notice, and it will be up to internet service providers to take further action on offenders. This includes punishments, which could range from throttling download speeds to terminating internet services entirely, depending on the ISP. However, offenders can request a review of their network activity by paying a $35 billing fee. If the offender is found not guilty, the $35 will be refunded.

The Center for Copyright Information has partnered with several major ISPs, including AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon. Each ISP will use their own version of the CAS. In general, though, the system will detect illegal downloading by using a mix of humans and automated processes provided by MarkMonitor.

The CCI noted that they won’t have the ability to obtain personal information from the data they collect, and the overall goal of the CAS is to simply inform users rather than punish them. The CCI says that the system is designed to make users “aware of activity that has occurred using their Internet accounts, educate them on how they can prevent such activity from happening again, and provide information about the growing number of ways to access digital content legally.”

[via Ars Technica]

Copyright Alert System rolling out this fall is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The fact that ISPs are working with the RIAA in a bid to squash piracy is far from new. A leaked document claiming to be AT&T training materials, however, suggests that the operator is about to stop talking, and start doing. According to TorrentFreak notifications will be sent out to customers on November 28th about the change in policy, with those suspected of illicit downloads receiving an email alerting them of the possible copyright infringement. We’d previously heard of a six-stage notification system, and this, too, is mentioned here with repeat offenders facing access to “many of the most frequently visited websites” restricted. Even stranger, is the talk of having to complete an online tutorial about copyright to get the restrictions lifted. As AT&T is part of the MPAA and RIAA-backed Center for Copyright Information, it’s likely that the other members (Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision), will be prepping similar plans. We’ve asked AT&T for confirmation directly, but for now keep an eye on the mail.

Filed under: Internet, AT&T

AT&T training document suggests ISPs are gearing up to beat piracy with internet restrictions originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 12:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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