One of the largest telecoms firms in the US is contemplating the introduction of a filter to block copyright-infringing traffic in its internet service. The company said that network-level filtering was the "optimal" way to deal with piracy.
ISPs in the US and the UK have to date relied on their status as carriers of information to avoid legal responsibility for traffic they carry whose content they are unaware of. AT&T may change that, though, with plans to monitor and block some traffic.
One of the company's lawyers, James Cicconi, told a panel discussion at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas of his company's plans.
"We are very interested in a technology-based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” said Cicconi, according to the New York Times. Cicconi is AT&T's senior vice president for external and legal affairs.
“We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies," he said. "But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal, to try to explore various technologies that are out there.”
Copyright law in the US and the UK offer exceptions for carriers of information, though they must act to remove copyright material being misused when informed of specific cases.
Have you read these related articles?
Newsletter:
