San Francisco - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has reportedly recruited Internet service providers AT&T (NYSE: T) and Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) to participate in a new anti-piracy campaign, which would see the companies send warning notices to repeat file-swappers, eventually suspending or even terminating their accounts, according to CNET News.com. Citing "three sources close to the companies," the article notes that none of the prospective ISP partners has yet signed on to the RIAA's plan, as they remain "'skittish' about negative press and could still back out."

"While I'm not in a position to comment on the RIAA announcement, we believe that consumer education is a key component to enabling customers to find and use legal methods to access the content they want...we have also consistently said that automatic cutoff of our customers is not something we would do," an AT&T spokesman told CNET.

Such collaboration with ISPs would complement the RIAA's recent announcement that it would end its litigation campaign against individual file-swappers, and the efforts of the major labels to get "three strikes" or "graduated response" file-sharing laws implemented in Europe and elsewhere.

France recently enacted such legislation, and users there who are found by their ISP to have repeatedly engaged in illicit file-sharing face termination of their accounts.

ISPs in the U.K. also last year signed a memorandum of understanding with the record labels, agreeing to forward copyright notices to subscribers, but stopping short of disconnection for repeat offenders.

CNET said that digital civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation is withholding judgment until it learns whether disconnected users will be blackballed by ISPs, and how the system will prevent against false positives.

The RIAA may disclose participating ISPs as soon as next month, a music industry source told CNET.

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10151389-93.html