The Center for Copyright Information has stated that it will be rolling out its infringement warning platform, dubbed the Copyright Alert System (CAS), "in the coming weeks." Originally announced last year, the Copyright Alert System will be used to deliver infringement notices from content owners to ISP users that illegally download copyrighted material. While the initial notices will be purely informational, internet service providers will take extra action on repeat offenders. The punishment for those who refuse to change their ways will vary based on the individual ISP — ranging from requiring the subscriber to review "educational material" to throttling data speeds — although service cancellations are not built into CAS. The internet service providers, however, can make the decision to terminate subscriptions on their own terms. As previously stated, customers requesting an independent review of their network behavior can do so by paying a $35 billing fee.

Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and others are playing ball

In order to effectively deploy the alert system, the CCI partnered with AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon, each of which will utilize their own version of the CAS. The Copyright Alert System detects illegal downloading with a mix of humans and automated processes provided by "brand protection" firm MarkMonitor. The CCI specifies that neither MarkMonitor nor content creators have the ability to obtain personal customer information. The overall goal of the Copyright Alert System is to inform customers rather than punish them, with the CCI stating that it is "designed to make consumers aware of activity that has occurred using their Internet accounts, educate them on how they can prevent such activity from happening again, and provide information about the growing number of ways to access digital content legally."