Recording Industry Works With Internet Service Providers Against Piracy

AT&T confirmed on Tuesday that the company is working with the Recorded Industry Artists Association (RIAA) to combat illegal file sharing. Jim Cicconi, a senior executive for AT&T, said at a digital music conference that they had begun to issue warnings to people accused of pirating music by the RIAA.

Cicconi reassures that AT&T is only forwarding warning notices from copyright holders and they “will never suspend, terminate or sanction any customer without some sort of legal process, like a court order.” If the RIAA asked them to do such a thing they “simply would not do that,” he said.

The RIAA said in December that it would stop suing individuals, and would try to work with ISPs to prevent piracy. Another such ISP is Comcast, which, at the same conference, confirmed an arrangement with the RIAA, and that they had already sent 2 million warning notices.

The RIAA’s efforts to stop copyright infringement don’t stop there. Seeqpod, a music search engine, has come under so much pressure that they’ve sold the engine’s source code to third-party developers, just to make sure the search algorithm is preserved in case the service is shut down.

The RIAA is finding roundabout ways to keep Internet users from file sharing, but will these tactics be effective, or are they fighting a losing battle without a hope?

Photo via forums.vault9.net
Source: Slashdot