The so-called 'six strikes' Copyright Alert System -- warnings that internet users who have been downloaded copyrighted content could receive from their ISPs -- is already part of the history.

The Copyright Alert System (CAS) is officially over, the program's managing group the Center for Copyright Information (CCI) confirmed.

"After four years of extensive consumer education and engagement, the Copyright Alert System will conclude its work," said the members of the Center for Copyright Information on its program, the Copyright Alert System.

"The program demonstrated that real progress is possible when content creators, Internet innovators and consumer advocates come together in a collaborative and consensus-driven process. CAS succeeded in educating many people about the availability of legal content, as well as about issues associated with online infringement," their statement reads.

The CAS was an anti-piracy partnership between the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and their partner ISPs.

As part of the program, copyright holders would monitor peer-to-peer networks for piracy. When they found a pirate the content owners would alert the relevant ISP. The ISP would then send a warning to the Internet subscriber suspected of pirating copyrighted content.

There were six warnings in total and their requirements would vary by ISP. They escalated from a mild warning to a requirement that you acknowledge the warning, sometimes by viewing anti-piracy material. The remaining warnings were mitigation alerts that could mean Internet speed throttling, require subscribers to contact their ISP, or perhaps view some more anti-piracy educational material online.

After the sixth alert, if the customer still kept on pirating that was about as far as it would go-as far as the CAS was concerned.