Starting July 12, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the U.S. will begin policing its users in an effort to eliminate file sharing piracy, according to Cary Sherman, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The anti-piracy project will be known as the “six-strikes” plan.

It is not mandatory for each individual ISP to take part in the anti-piracy campaign, although most major ISPs in the U.S. are expected to. There’s no word on whether smaller ISPs will follow suit.

The six-strikes plan works by punishing repeat offenders. Users found downloading illegal music or other files the first time will incur warnings from their respective ISP, which tracks offenses.

Repeat offenders will receive “confirmation notices” from their ISP to inform them of the copyright infringement. The ISP would then have the authority to throttle their internet or cut it off completely. Digital Trends, however, reports that no ISP has committed yet to completely grounding internet access.

This anti-piracy effort is considered the most effective ever established in U.S. history. Peer-to-peer file sharing sites have been around since 1999 when Napster debuted. The RIAA states that music sales in the U.S. have dropped 53 percent since then, and the scope of digital file sharing is enormous according to the RIAA. It states between 2004 and 2009, about 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded.

Hefty copyright infringement fines have been doled in the past, such as one ruling in 2009 involving a 32-year-old mother in Minnesota. RollingStone.com reported Jammie Thomas-Rasset received a fine for $1.92 million for downloading 24 songs illegally using the peer-to-peer file sharing website Kazaa.

Although the new policing measures will not yield such extreme punishments, ISPs will be able to offer broader coverage to catch more users violating copyright laws.