AT&T, Comcast, Cox Aiding RIAA Anti-piracy Actions

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 25, 2009 - 12:07pm.

Nashville, Tenn. - At the behest of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), broadband service providers AT&T (NYSE: T), Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) and Cox are sending warning letters to subscribers believed to be engaged in illegal file-sharing, CNET News.com reported. The letters sent so far stop short of threatening that a user's Internet account could be suspended or terminated for repeat offenses, a punishment the major record labels are currently lobbying for around the world.

The RIAA announced late last year that it would abandon its litigation campaign against individual file-swappers, opting instead to try to work with ISPs on the issue.

An AT&T spokeswoman told CNET that the company is sending a letter from the RIAA, along with its own cover letter.

Executives from AT&T, Comcast and Cox confirmed they are beginning to send such warning letters to subscribers at the Leadership Music Digital Summit in Nashville this week.

Comcast's Joe Waz told attendees the company had already issued 2 million file-sharing notices to its subscribers; AT&T's Jim Cicconi described the notices as being part of a "trial."

A Cox spokesman told CNET the company had issued "hundreds of thousands" of notices.

Cox also acknowledged the company has in fact also terminated repeat offenders, but noted this has only occurred in "less than one-tenth of 1 percent" of cases.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10204047-93.html

http://www.riaa.com