After seeing pirates use their ISPs to transmit their stolen movies, TV shows, music and games to others, it seems that a number of ISPs are finally getting together to make an effort to crack down on these kind of activities. CNet's News.com reports that a number of major Internet service providers in the US are working on a deal with the movie and music trade groups, that if successful, would have ISPs go after pirates who used their services.
According to the story, the ISPs involved in the proposed agreement include AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. They have been in talks with both the Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association of America on this anti-piracy deal. If the deal is agreed upon by the various parties, ISPs would first send out warnings to customers that have been accused of downloading pirated data from peer-to-peer based pirate sites. However, if those warnings are ignored by the accused party, the ISPs could do several things to punish the user including slowing down their bandwidth or limit their access to the web by only allowing them to view the top 200 web sites. The accused pirate could also be required to participate in a program that educates them on copyright law and the rights of content creators. Oddly enough, actually kicking the accused pirate off the ISP entirely is not a part of the proposed deal with the music and movie trade groups.
The story says that President Barack Obama and the White House have also been pushing for a deal between the groups to fight piracy. Assuming the deal is finalized, it could be officially announced sometime in July.
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