MP3 piracy runs rampant on the Net. That could easily change, if Dave Powell, managing director of England's Copyright Control Services gets his way.

CCS tracks, documents, and shuts down Internet sites and communication channels containing illegal files.

"We are just starting to work on MP3," said Powell. "We've been advising the [International Federation of the Phonographic Industry] for a year now. We're into 5,000 sites shut down in a year."

The bulk of that work has been on contract with pro audio software companies, who hire the firm to get pirated copies of their applications off the Net. Only a fraction of their efforts have been on behalf of music publishers going after MP3 pirates.

But of the 5,000 sites Powell said CCS has shut down so far, 500,000 pieces of software have been removed -- using " a very small, but very proactive, hard-hitting, and focused team."

There's a screaming demand for that kind of effectiveness in the fight against pirated music, Powell believes. His company hopes to sell the industry on the idea.

"We have no real competition," Powell said. "There's no combination of technology, strategy, fast-track relationship with ISPs."

The company's bag of tricks starts with frequent monitoring of what the company says are hotspots for pirates in Internet venues. Some of them are little known or understood by most people in the industry. These channels include users of Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Usenet discussion groups, the semi-underground Hotline server and file-transfer software.

When they find pirate activity, the company moves to identify the pirate's Internet locale -- the ISPs and servers pirates are using. The next step is the keystone of the CCS approach: open doors at ISPs and hosting services that get an account quashed before the pirating even ramps up.

The company has "fast-track" relationships with 1,000 ISPs worldwide, Powell said. "That's all we do is work in a cooperative manner -- and the ISP relies on us."

He says the system is extremely efficient compared to ongoing efforts by groups like the IFPI and the Recording Industry Association of America.

"You've got the RIAA going out and suing ISPs -- everything gets bogged down as lawyers talk to one another. What we're saying [is] as long as you act quickly, we aren't even interested in suing."

But the record industry groups are content for now with their own methods, launching antipiracy campaigns to stop their antagonists.

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