AT&T gearing up for network-level filtering

AT&T wants to play Big Brother, they are now discussing the possibility of network-level filtering to suppress piracy. Representatives from AT&T, Microsoft, NBC and some digital filtering companies tackled this issue at a small panel discussion in the ongoing CES 2008.

Apparently, AT&T external & legal affairs senior vice president James Cicconi believes the current methods to fight piracy is futile. For the last 6 months, the telecoms company has talked with MPAA, RIAA and several technology companies to apply digital fingerprinting techniques on the network level.

“We are very interested in a technology based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this. We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies. But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal, to try to explore various technologies that are out there.”

I’m pretty sure consumer groups will oppose this method, fearing it will lead to abuses like the massive censorship implemented in China. If the alleged blocking of BitTorrent traffic by Comcast already ignited a firestorm of protest, expect this issue to be of bigger proportion. Indeed, the big hurdle is finding a friendly way to do it.

Read [The New York Times’ Bits]