Comcast will persistently nag subscribers suspected of
illegally trading copyrighted material but -- unlike some other ISPs -- the
cable operator says it will not throttle back connection speeds or block access
to the Internet.
This week, after more than a year and a half in the works,
Comcast and four other major U.S. broadband providers -- Time Warner Cable,
AT&T, Verizon Communications and Cablevision Systems -- have begun alerting
subscribers suspected of illegally sharing or downloading copyrighted content
over peer-to-peer networks, under the media industry-led "six strikes" program.
On Wednesday, Comcast provided details of how it will carry
out the Center for Copyright Information's Copyright Alert System.
In the first two instances, Comcast's Xfinity Internet users
suspected of copyright infringement will receive "information-focused alerts"
via both in-browser alerts and emails, Susan Jin Davis, Comcast Cable's vice
president of strategic services for communications and data services, wrote in
a blog post. Alerts 3 and 4 will be more strongly worded "warning-focused
alerts."
