In addition to your modem, media player and ISP-level filters...
Public Knowledge posts a video from the recent State of the Net Conference, at which the RIAA's Cary Sherman discusses ISP piracy filters. Of course, many piracy filtering systems like the one being
tested by AT&T could easily be bested by encryption. Sherman has a solution for that: spyware/software on your PC, buried in your anti-virus software or within your modem that would restrict you from viewing certain content:
Filters can be put in the applications for example. You know, one could have a filter on the end user’s computer that would actually eliminate any benefit from…encryption because if you want to hear it, you’d have to decrypt it, and at that point the filter could work. Why would somebody put that on their machine? They likely wouldn't want to do that, they'd do that when it benefits them such as for viruses...
Several times Sherman infers that ISP systems that simply inform customers that what they're doing is wrong could stop piracy (though years of lawsuits and subsequent press coverage failed to do that). It's clear however that to be truly effective, Sherman sees a future where your ISP, modem, PC,
router and perhaps anti-malware software all work together to protect the entertainment industry's profit margins.
