"Six-Strikes" Anti-Piracy Plan Could Be Rolling Out This Week

Pirates beware, your ISP might be putting in place a much stricter set of policies very soon. According to recent evidence, a "six-strikes" plan is being put in place, with the intent of making life more difficult for those engaging in Internet piracy. According to a report from TorrentFreak, the largest source of BitTorrent related news items, these new rules could be put in place as early as this week.

But first, a little history. In the summer of 2011, the Motion Picture Association of America, Recording Industry Association of America, and five major Internet service providers partnered up to create the Center for Copyright Information (CCI). The original intent of the CCI was to educate the masses about copyright laws , which they plan to do via a new website they launched a few days ago.

Although the details are a bit uncertain, it is being reported that the CCI will also be putting in place a new set of rules that will go after purported pirates. The aggressive new stance will include an "alert" system that will differ from provider to provider.

The general gist of it is that your ISP will monitor your Internet usage to scan for illegitimate downloading. If you're caught, they'll send you an email asking you to cut it out, and will include a link to the previously mentioned CCI website for more information.

Leaked documents from AT&T suggest that their system will issue a few warnings, then more serious warnings, before finally implementing a throttling of service and page-blocks. However, it is important to note that their policy suggests they will never be disconnecting your service. This makes sense, as they obviously want to keep you as a customer, regardless of the legality of your Internet use.

While each ISP will be using a different system, they will probably look more or less like AT&T's proposed plan. So if you are currently utilizing BitTorrent's system for dubious uses, don't be surprised if you get a notification in your inbox asking you to stop.