ISPs, content owners move closer to launching anti-piracy plan

Pirates, beware. Media companies and ISPs looking to put a stop--or at least significantly put a crimp into--piracy of movie and music content, this week established the infrastructure of the Center for Copyright Information, naming an executive director and several others to its advisory board.

The program, which started taking shape last year, will "assist in the effort to combat online infringement," and has onboard major film studios and ISPs , including AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA). It could be ready to start implementing its program this summer.

CCI's new ED, Jill Lesser, said her focus will be on "education and deterrence, not punishment." Lesser has served as the deputy director of public policy and director of the Civic Media Project at People for the American Way, and as SVP for domestic public policy for AOL Time Warner.  She is also a Board Member of the Center for Democracy and Technology.

"Jill has spent her career solving complex problems at the intersection of technology, copyright and consumer rights," said Thomas Dailey, chairman of the executive board of the CCI and VP of Verizon Communications. "CCI's mission is to implement the most thoughtful and consumer friendly system to-date for promoting the lawful enjoyment of copyrighted material. Jill's ability to find solutions that work for content creators, ISPs and their customers will be critical to this task."

CCI also announced its advisory board, including Jerry Berman, the chairman of the Internet Education Foundation and founder of the Center for Democracy and Technology; Marsali Hancock, the president of iKeepSafe.org; Jules Polenetsky, the current director and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum; and Gigi Sohn, internationally known communications attorney, and president and CEO of Public Knowledge. 

The advisory board will actively consult on issues the executive board is considering with regards to the design and implementation of the CAS, as well as CCI's educational framework.

The CCI was formed in September and is a coalition of U.S. content creators and ISPs; it plans to implement the Copyright Alert System to deter online copyright infringement through a series of educational notices to consumers. Repeat violators could have their ISP service suspended or face "other measures."

For more:
- see this Ars Technica article
- see this Venture Beat article
- see this release

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