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Update: 11:37 a.m. PDT To include quotes from a Cox spokesman.

Update: 4:05 p.m. PDT To include Comcast's statement that the 2 million notices sent out was not part of any new policy.

The Internet service providers that have agreed to work with the recording industry to battle illegal file sharing are starting to come forward.

Joe Waz, a senior vice president at Comcast, the nation's second largest ISP, told a gathering of music industry executives that the company has issued 2 million notices on behalf of copyright owners, according to multiple people who … Read more

Updated Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. PDT to include quotes from AT&T and information about Comcast and Cox.

Updated Wednesday at 10:37 a.m. PDT to include a statement from an AT&T spokeswoman who wished to correct what she had previously said. She says now that the company asserts in the letters that it has the right to terminate a policy. She said, however, the company has no intention of doing so.

Updated Wednesday at 3:40 p.m. PDT: AT&T says that it won't ever terminate service of customers without … Read more

When the RIAA said in December it would stop pursuing individual illegal file sharers, it wasn't clear exactly why. Now, CNET News' Greg Sandoval says the industry group is just switching tactics. Several sources close to Comcast and AT&T say that they, along with several other Internet service providers, will agree to monitor their networks for illegal file sharing by its customers.

Also on today's podcast: The fourth quarter is a good news/bad news story for SAP; AT&T profits sink; Acer gets into the smartphone biz; and clickfraud skyrockets.

Listen now: Download today's podcast … Read more

AT&T and Comcast, two of the nation's largest Internet service providers, are expected to be among a group of ISPs that will cooperate with the music industry in battling illegal file sharing, three sources close to the companies told CNET News.

The Recording Industry Association of America, the lobbying group representing the four largest recording companies, said last month that it had enlisted the help of ISPs as part of a new antipiracy campaign. The RIAA has declined to identify which ISPs or how many.

It's important to … Read more

Digitization has a disruptive effect on a wide range of industries, from music to software to publishing to...you name it. If it can be digitized, it can be disrupted.

It's therefore encouraging to see the music seemingly converging on a cool new-old model: an ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, & Publishers)-like tax from one's Internet service provider that allows unlimited downloading of music.

Gerd Leonhard's recent presentation on the subject is the best I've seen yet, one that I'd recommend you review, even if you never stray from the software world to … Read more

More than 2 million people are expected to descend on Washington, D.C., this weekend for Barack Obama's inauguration as president. To prepare for the crush of traffic expected on the network from those in attendance, wireless-service providers have pulled out the stops.

CNET News' Maggie Reardon, who will be in D.C. for the event, joins us today to talk about what steps providers are taking to keep their networks up and running.

Also on today's podcast, Circuit City finally calls it quits, Nintendo continues to crush its competitors in video game console sales, another lawmaker asks … Read more

Jerry Scroggin, the owner of a Louisiana Internet Service Provider, says he's skeptical of a service that proposes to pay ISPs to police their networks for pirated music and movies.

I wrote about Scroggin last month following the music industry's announcement that it would scale back a longtime strategy of suing individuals suspected of music piracy, and instead enlist the help of ISPs to thwart copyright violations.

Scroggin argued that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) should help pay the costs incurred when they ask ISPs to chase down suspected music pirates. Days after the story was … Read more

iLuv has trotted out the iSP200, a 2.1-channel PC speaker system for laptops and desktops. The iSP200 will be available in June for $99.99.

In its press release, the company appeared to be targeting Macbook Air owners, but the system works with any computer. Robert Caputo, iLuv's vice president of sales, says: "We feel that the iSP200 with its sleek and stylish look is a great complement to the Macbook Air and is the complete 2.1-channel speaker solution providing 32W RMS sound and three extra USB ports for users entertainment needs." OK, sure. The … Read more

This morning I wrote a story about Jerry Scroggin, owner-operator of Bayou Internet and Communications, and why he thinks copyright owners should compensate ISPs if they want help protecting content from piracy.

To give readers an idea of the kind of requests he receives from film and music companies each month, Scroggin forwarded some of his e-mail exchanges. Those are included here.

The first is from Payartists, which according to its Web site "provides a way for copyright infringers to settle their disputes with the copyright owners" and in this case was representing the family of the late … Read more