Joining the league of other leading Internet Service Providers, AT&T Inc would soon begin a system of forwarding warning notices to its subscribers as and when music brands and movie studios assert that they are trafficking in pirated matter. At present, AT&T is testing the system with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and intends expanding the program with other rights organizations.

Confirming the news, Jim Cicconi, AT&T's top executive in Washington, said that the new provision, over and above the necessary legal requirements, implies that whenever copyright holders suspect an Internet address to be associated with piracy, they will inform AT&T. The ISP will automatically extend a warning to the specific users by the way of an e-mail, without disclosing the user's identity to the copyright owners.

Warning notices like the ones proposed by AT&T are already being resorted to by Cox Communications Inc, Comcast Corp, and Verizon Communications, though each with its own specific approach.

According to senior attorney Fred von Lohmann, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the system of issuing copyright warnings to subscribers by AT&T and other participating ISPs is more than their legally-specified obligation towards for copyright owners. Lohmann added that the ISPs' commitment towards copyright owners includes a policy whereby they have to kick off repeat offenders!