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. Yesterday at CES AT&T's chief lobbyist met with NBC, Microsoft and others to discuss the company's filtering plans.As we've noted previously, AT&T is treading very dangerous ground here. Moral and legal debates aside for a moment, the elephant in the room has long been that p2p piracy has driven this industry, and by eliminating this as an option, many consumers will take their business elsewhere. There's also the fact that if poorly implemented, AT&T's countermeasures could impact legitimate content.

Investors may also not appreciate the added expense of AT&T playing piracy cop. P2P use continues to grow, and it's not as if the RIAA and MPAA haven't been using drastic measures to try and stop it. AT&T's deep pockets might help, but what precisely is AT&T's risk/reward ratio with such expenditures?

AT&T's clearly aware that the company needs to tread carefully. "Whatever we do has to pass muster with consumers and with policy standards," says chief AT&T lobbyist James Cicconi. "There is going to be a spotlight on it," he says. "We’ve got to figure out a friendly way to do it, there’s no doubt about it."