Hollywood is poised to up the ante in its war against file swappers, with new technology that could make it easier to remove suspected pirates from campus networks, CNET News.com has learned.
Movie studios, record labels and technology companies have been testing the system for months, according to sources familiar with the project.
Known as the Automated Copyright Notice System (ACNS), the technology promises to make copyright enforcement easier on peer-to-peer networks, saving schools and Internet service providers (ISPs) time and money. ACNS allows them to automatically restrict or cut off Internet access for alleged infringers on notice from a record label or movie studio. For example, universities using ACNS could instantly send notices of copyright infringement to students by e-mail and restrict their network access until they have removed the file.
ACNS is the latest effort from record labels and Hollywood studios to crack down on piracy over peer-to-peer networks. The industries’ tactics have grown increasingly aggressive, drawing charges from some critics that copyright holders have trampled the rights of accused infringers.
