Britain Cracks Down On Illegal Downloading

Major Internet Service Providers Will Team Up With Government To Monitor What Citizens Are Doing Online

(AP)  Britain's six biggest Internet service providers have agreed to work with the government and music industry to clamp down on illegal downloading, a music industry association said Thursday.

BT, Virgin Media, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse signed up to a government-negotiated plan and will send letters to hundreds of thousands of prolific downloaders warning them their activity is being monitored, according to the BPI - formerly known as the British Phonographic Industry. The Motion Pictures Association of America also signed onto the plan.

The agreement is important because it is the first time the British government has gotten involved in combatting illegal file sharing. Equally important is that Internet service providers - who have previously resisted music industry demands to cut off customers who share files illegally - have agreed to become involved, too, though not to the level of cutting off customer's service.

Geoff Taylor, the chief executive of the BPI, said the plan marked an important milestone because all service providers "now recognize their responsibility to help deal with illegal file sharing."

The service providers also agreed Thursday to develop legal file-sharing services as an alternative to piracy.

The IFTI, the international recording industry trade body, said the agreement is a step in the right direction, but that the government needs to do more.

"It is important that it (the government) now drives the process forward to a solution with urgency, and that it achieves concrete, measurable results," IFTI chairman and CEO John Kennedy said.

Britain is not the first country to work with Internet service providers in an effort to stop illegal file sharing.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has sought to crack down on illegal downloads and pushed a plan that would suspend or even terminate Internet service to multiple offenders.

The plan was signed by the government Internet service providers and entertainment industry representatives in November 2007. It allows for the creation of a regulatory agency that, upon artists' requests, could send warning notices to offenders through the service providers. Multiple offenders could then be put on a blacklist barring them from subscribing to any of the ISPs.

However, only pieces of the plan have been put in place and it has yet to be formalized into law.

An earlier 2006 law created sanctions for significant illegal file sharing of up to three years in prison and about $471,000 in fines.

Although Britain's plan does not require service providers to cut off customers who share files illegally, consumer rights groups are worried the government may demand this in the future.

"We think that is a disproportionate response," said Becky Hogge, the chief executive of the consumer rights organization Open Rights Group.

Hogge thinks stronger enforcement measures will not deter illegal downloading.

"They'll have the effect of driving illicit file sharing further underground," Hogge said.

Industry estimates say 6.5 million Britons have downloaded files illegally over the past year.

[markavelli2]

juwboy wrote:
""""instead of going after the people who keep them in business -- the buying public."""


Ha ha ha hah, that is an oxymoron. The "buying public" who illegally downloads music for FREE??????????

Get grip people, the copywrite laws around the world are what holds our economies together.

Did you all ever think that if the music companies made more money (and they don''t make a whole lot these days) perhaps we might see better bands come along? And more choices? As apposed to one artist being spoonfed into our homes over and over gain until they have sold enough cd''s to turn a profit??

[barbaram99]

Ye have to realise in America the crooks have rights. Yep. Seattle cops told me so. Ye can''t lay a paw on them or yer asre goes to lock up. I am an American of UK desent/Iraland. My Father side.

[gmond]

I wish all these government agencies would go catch some real criminals.

[barbaram99]

If I want the music I will go to the store and buy the CD. It is a fact that they will not allow the media player in UK systems. Moch less the TV in the tower. They come here as we can watch TV free and the same for music to listen to.

[libsluv2spit]

hey dont have enough jails to hold them all .If they were to fine them then the defendant can burn cds sell to them to third world black market then pay the fine then go home boot up start searching for the latest hits.

Posted by tootall1014 at 10:54 AM : Jul 26, 2008
+ report abuse

*********

make sure you get paid in euros..these LIBERAL MINSTRELS AND COURT JESTERS dont take dollars anymore..THEY ARE TOO GOOD FOR IT..


HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA

YOU GUYS NEED TO GET A ROOM..let the fu cking begins...

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH

[libsluv2spit]

its rich liberal organizations (music and movie industry) getting sick and tired of getting robbed by pimply faced broke arse liberals..

its kanye west saying..''PAY UP BIT*CH..NOTHING IS FREE IN THIS WORLD"

and here is where is stand on this AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

YOU GUYS DESERVE EACH OTHER

[barbaram99]

I am down on Windows 7. Have not heard of it ye will say.The touch system. XP was pulled June 30th. I was sad. Vista I can''t say. They are cracking down on the Brits. They have in America.

[obama441]

come n get me coppers he,he hack,hack,0010100110100111001001001011000001010010 he,he

[jamjholmes]

Big Brother is why, not so much the music companies. How dare u get informed outside the msm brainwashings.

[juwboy]

When is the music industry going to realize we are now living in the 21st century and it`s no longer possible to remunerate their performers the way they did in the 20th i.e. via a royalty on each recording sold.

They need to completely overhaul the way contracts are drawn up instead of going after the people who keep them in business -- the buying public.

[babooph]

All crooked governments that are ripping off their citizens must keep a close eye on them-what if they caught onto the "news" brainwashing.

[jimfinster]

Why do movies and music enjoy this special privilege?

99% of us get paid once for the work we do. Why do they get paid over and over for the same thing? Even a great painter only gets paid once for a work of art!

[jgunther7]

Always weary of big brother stopping download of videos and information that may expresses political opinion different from his own. As an example, in Britain, the media regularly blocks information that is freely available in the US, but that the royal family finds inappropriate for her majesties subjects in the UK. When you try and access certain news articles you get a message saying not available in your location. It makes one wonder how much information is being blocked from the world about the Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran. When George Bush wants to go to war in Iraq, we are fed endless news feeds that Saddam Hussein is an evil person, and that Bush is justified in invading a sovereign country that has never acted against the US public, assassinate their leader, destroy their government, info structure and public utilities, kill over a million innocent citizens and confiscate their oil for the good of big oil companies. From outside the United States, I could see that the picture painted for the American public was entirely different from reality.

[sistatee-2009]

Bloody right!

[grandesign]

Finally, a focus on preventing the loss of revenues for music over the Internet. Thank goodness. This might even help the economy through increased sales in the marketplace. Nomatterwhat, people who take without paying some price are in many ways stealing. Now lets get the Chinese Government to stop the infringement of copyrights for software.