Whether rights holders will actually go that far remains unclear, but they'd have a stronger case in court with proof that users ignored a series of warnings. Still, Dudley told me the whole point of the Copyright Alert System is to educate users and avoid that situation, and keep in mind that the music industry stopped suing individual file-sharers years ago.
The Center for Copyright Information, which heads the joint effort, is planning to invite other ISPs to sign on, Jill Lesser, the Center's executive director, said at the panel discussion. The group originally worked with only large providers to make an agreement easier, but now it looks like smaller ones could be next.
