DAVOS, Switzerland - AT&T is considering examining traffic on its Internet lines, in an effort to stop illegal sharing of copyrighted material, CEO Randall Stephenson said Wednesday.
In a conference held during the World Economic Forum, Stephenson said the company is looking at monitoring peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, which are considered to be among the largest drivers of online traffic and a common way to illegally exchange copyrighted files.
"It's like being in a store and watching someone steal a DVD," Stephenson said. "Do you act?"
Comcast Corp. deals with congestion caused by file sharers by hampering some peer-to-peer traffic, regardless of whether the content is legal.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said earlier this month it would investigate complaints made by consumer groups and legal scholars claiming that Comcast's practice violates the open-access principles of the Internet.
U.S. Internet service providers are legally shielded from liability if their subscribers trade copyrighted files.
