6 strikes law is here!

After some delay, the "Copyright Alert System," which will provide notices to consumers if their ISP suspects illegal downloading, is now ready to go live.

The Center for Copyright Information (CCI), which is overseeing the effort, said in a Monday blog post that "today marks the beginning of the implementation phase of the Copyright Alert System (CAS)."

"The CAS marks a new way to reach consumers who may be engaging in peer-to-peer (P2P) piracy," the group said.

The CAS was first announced in July 2011. Many ISPs already provide warnings to users if sketchy behavior is detected, but the Copyright Alert System is intended to provide a standardized approach that all ISPs will use. Going forward, users will get a notice if they are suspected of illegal downloading. If they ignore that message, the ISP might resort to pop-ups or redirecting to special websites that display the alert. If those too are ignored, the ISP will turn to "mitigation measures," which could include throttling or requiring someone to review educational materials.

So what we have here is a system that ISP's really do not want to enforce, but will anyway.  Do you really think Verizon wants to cancel your service?  Really?  Regardless, do not pirate, it's just the right thing to do (sigh).