This week five major U.S. Internet service providers --
Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T, Verizon Communications and Cablevision
Systems -- will begin alerting broadband subscribers who are suspected of
illegally sharing or downloading copyrighted content, under the media
industry-led "six strikes" program.
That's according to a blog
post Monday by Jill Lesser, executive director of the Center for Copyright Information,
the "educational" coalition established by the ISPs and the Motion Picture
Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, music
labels, and TV and movie producers.
"Consumers whose accounts have been used to share
copyrighted content over P2P networks illegally (or without authority) will receive
Alerts that are meant to educate rather than punish, and direct them to legal
alternatives," Lesser wrote.
Initially, the Copyright Alert System will simply warns
alleged pirates that illegal file-sharing has been detected on their account.
Services providers will then point them to different sources of legitimate
online content, such as iTunes, Netflix, Amazon or Spotify.
