AT&T this year will voluntarily put mechanisms in place that will filter pirated material from the company's network. No specific technology has been announced, but insiders say that AT&T has been testing a solution from Vobile since last Spring. The move is a risky one, given it could cost the company a significant number of p2p customers -- or non p2p customers if the filters don't work correctly. The decision may also annoy investors, who won't like the added costs of an endless war on piracy. It could also open the door to legal liability.

In contrast, Verizon tells the NY Times they won't be implementing filters at Hollywood's request. "We generally are reluctant to get into the business of examining content that flows across our networks and taking some action as a result of that content," Verizon's chief policy man Tom Tauke tells the paper. According to Tauke, in addition to potential legal liability and privacy concerns, the decision to say yes to Hollywood is "a slippery slope":In addition, Tauke says Verizon won't be implementing Comcast-style forged packet trickery, as it "again starts you down a path you don’t want to go down." The company also recently stated that their decision to deploy fiber to the home leaves them in a position where they probably won't have to bill by the byte. Somebody give the folks at Verizon a cookie; they've learned that providing clean, unimpeded bandwidth makes good business sense.