AT&T stumbles along privacy, piracy line
In a move bringing howls from deep in fair-use and electronic freedom movements, AT&T has decided to become the first Internet carrier to take an active role in trying to prevent piracy, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The company, already in hot water with privacy advocates for allegedly illegally releasing phone data to the government, controls the largest cross-country Internet traffic system.
AT&T says it will work with studios and recording companies to develop technology that targets the most frequent copyright offenders, though is thus far short on details of its approach. Considering the sheer volume of information that needs sifting, and the understanding of “fair use” needed to determine whether there’s been a copyright violation, it’s no simple task.
What seems likely early on is that AT&T will set up a way to read fingerprints attached in the content-development process - such as the one YouTube is working on - rather than trying to separately probe every file that comes along. Doing much more could prove to be a significant waste of effort.
“The risk AT&T faces is fighting the last war by spending money and energy plugging an old hole in the wall when new ones are breaking out,” Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Freedom Foundation told the Times.
