Lets face it, it's a nightmare to get adequate support from many of the nation's largest ISPs. Call centers are stocked with poorly trained, outsourced representatives reading from scripts, and it's sometimes impossible to get them to fix even the most rudimentary of problems without it turning into a multi-week descent into technical support purgatory. That's what makes the RIAA's new plan to make ISPs content nannies (who terminate your connection upon repeat piracy offenses) a little scary. If many ISPs can't even support their existing infrastructure, will they be able to track pirates and address grievances for the falsely accused?

As we mentioned back in October, Cox already has the RIAA's system in place, e-mailing heavy P2P pirates with a warning, walling off Internet access for repeat offenders, and in some rare cases, terminating the connections of those who don't comply. Cox informs customers (see right) that this is their responsibility under the DMCA, though in reality the DMCA requires no such thing.

Cox is playing the RIAA's wet nurse as it allows them to reduce congestion by targeting the heaviest P2P users, though Cox advertises the system as something substantially more helpful. "This notification is the most helpful thing we can do for the customer," a Cox spokesperson told me. "If they don't realize the RIAA or another organization has identified them as possibly infringing on their copyrights, they might get sued instead," he claims.

Cox was among the first ISPs to employ "walled gardens" for users whose systems are infected with malware, cordoning off those customers from the broader Internet until they get their systems cleaned. The practice clearly gives them the experience to do the same thing to pirates. So far, other than a few instances of miscommunication, Cox's systems haven't resulted in a lot of complaints by our regular users-- yet. Cox so far says they've only had to terminate less than 1% of user connections for repeat offenses.

However, Cox is usually ranked slightly higher than many other carriers when it comes to customer satisfaction. Charter Communications has trouble tracking their own technicians in the field. Verzion and Verizon Wireless frequently can't fix even the smallest billing errors. If you ask their customers, Sprint can't do much of anything correctly of late. Can these carriers handle playing Internet babysitters? And these are large carriers. Can small ISPs afford the support costs of playing Internet police for the entertainment industry?

Are you confident that your ISP can track P2P pirates, manage the notification process for repeat offenders, and handle the grievance process should users find their connections incorrectly terminated? Can they handle playing content police for both the RIAA and the MPAA?