AT&T and Comcast, two of the nation's largest Internet service providers are expected to be among a group of providers slated to work with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its battle against online piracy.

The trade group announced last month that it would cease its campaign of mass lawsuits against those it deemed pirates in favor of agreements with ISPs, and according to a report from CNet, AT&T and Comcast are among the first to work with the organization, though the RIAA itself has so far declined to identify exactly which ISPs are expected to participate in the effort.

ISPs have been what CNet quoted as "skittish" about being named in agreements with the RIAA, fearing the kind of negative publicity that the RIAA has been so adept at generating. AT&T and Comcast would be the first to come out of the closet on this issue, if the sources are correct.

The RIAA's plan is to work with the ISPs to bring notices to people the RIAA thinks are pirating music. While so far each ISP will be handling the situation in their own way, people who don't heed the notices will face escalating pressure from the ISP, which could escalate to termination of service.

When questioned by CNet, an RIAA spokesman declined to comment and a Comcast representative was unable to confirm the provider's participation. An AT&T spokesman offered the following comment on the issue: "While I'm not in a position to comment on the RIAA announcement, we believe that consumer education is a key component to enabling customers to find and use legal methods to access the content they want...we have also consistently said that automatic cutoff of our customers is not something we would do."

Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America, reportedly received the news of ISP participation with the RIAA "warmly," saying:

"Perhaps we have a chance to rebuild the music business after a period of tremendous looting. You can't have a marketplace without property rights. Certainly (the ISPs) rolled out broadband based on movie and music downloads, legal and illegal and claimed (exemption from any legal responsibility), but at this point I think they realize being good partners with the content industry is a better idea. I really want to salute them for doing that."

No word yet from the RIAA on plans its music labels have of making their business more relevant in a modern age to also help in the rebuilding of the music industry.

Bryan Chaffin assisted on this article.