The new enforcers of illegal internet piracy aren't the courts that award damages to trade groups<http://mashable.com/2010/05/12/riaa-limewire-lawsuit/> such as the Rcording Industry Association of America, and they're not police who arrest the operators of pirate sites<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirate_Bay_raid>. Now, Internet service providers themselves have taken on the role of punishing those who illegally share copyrighted content<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/technology/to-slow-piracy-internet-providers-ready-penalties.html?ref=technology>. Yesterday's announcement that ISPs would cooperate with the RIAA and Hollywood studios to police Internet activity came after years of negotiations. Under the deal, AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner Cable have agreed to send users who pirate content increasingly stern warnings, and if they don't stop, to slow the user's service dramatically or stop it altogether. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/07/isps-get-piracy-policing-g...