The nation's largest Internet service providers are expected to launch a "six-strikes" plan to combat illegal file-sharing, according to a new report from Wired. The "Copyright Alert System" is backed by the major record labels, the MPAA and the Obama administration. AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon could launch the new plan before the end of 2012.

The system would punish illegal file-sharers after their fourth offense, with ISPs potentially slowing down users' Internet speeds and redirecting their browsers to an "educational" site about copyright infringement.

"We are fairly confident the program will launch by year’s end," Jill Lesser, Executive Director of the Center for Copyright Information, the name of the group behind the program, told Wired.

For a first offense, ISPs will send users an alert saying their account may have been used for illegal file-sharing. On the second offense, a stronger alert with more of an "educational message" will be sent. On the third and fourth offense, a pop-up notice will ask the subscriber to acknowledge they had received the alert.

After four alerts, the ISPs would take stronger measures, including "temporary reductions of internet speeds, redirection to a landing page until the subscriber contacts the ISP to discuss the matter or reviews and responds to some educational information about copyright, or other measures (as specified in published policies) that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter."

The complete Wired report can be read here.