Starting next week, most US Internet users will be subject to a new copyright enforcement system that could slow the Internet to a crawl and force violators to take educational courses. A source with direct knowledge of the Copyright Alert System (CAS), who asked not to be named, has told the Daily Dot that the five participating Internet service providers (ISPs) will start the controversial program monday.
The ISPs - industry giants AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon - will launch their versions of the CAS on different days throughout the week. Comcast is expected to be the first, on Monday.
The CAS, designed as an "educational" service to combat casual piracy in the US, has been criticized as designed purely for corporate interests, at the expense of the average Internet user. While it doesn't require ISPs to cut off Internet access to repeat pirates - as is the case in France and New Zealand - it will issue escalating punishments to suspected pirates, severely reducing their connection speeds after five or six strikes.
Source: Daily Dot
