UK government wants to toughen up anti-piracy measures
The UK’s Department for Business Innovation and Skills has shaken up its post-Digital Britain report plans to combat file-sharing, announcing that it’s looking at possibly suspending the broadband accounts of persistent file-sharers – a measure that wasn’t in the report.
It’s issued an explanatory statement this morning, and extended its existing consultation on illegal file-sharing until the end of September to get the views of ISPs and rightsowners.
“It’s become clear there are widespread concerns that the plans as they stand could delay action, impacting unfairly upon rights holders,” says minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms. Read its full announcement below, and click here to read the explanatory statement (the link isn’t working at the time of writing, but should be imminently).
Today’s Statement
Action on unlawful P2P file-sharing
New ideas to allow for swifter and more flexible measures to tackle unlawful peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing are published today by the Government.
The Government is seeking views on the idea of including a power, under the forthcoming Digital Economy Bill, for the Secretary of State to direct Ofcom to introduce technical measures to clamp down on piracy, if necessary.
This would involve an obligation on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to take action against individual, repeat infringers – for example by blocking access to download sites, reducing broadband speeds, or by temporarily suspending the individual’s Internet account.
Evidence on whether such action is required would be provided in regular reports from Ofcom to the Secretary of State.
Previously, it had been proposed that Ofcom would undergo a detailed process in order to ascertain that technical measures were required. With this approach, the earliest that measures could come into play was during 2012. The Government has now reached the view that, if action was deemed necessary, this might be too long to wait given the pressure put on the creative industries by piracy. The new ideas outlined today would potentially allow action to be taken earlier.
The Government is also considering adding account suspension to the list of technical measures that could be used only as a last resort against the hard core of copyright pirates.
To enable stakeholders to provide feedback on the new ideas, the Government has today issued an explanatory statement and extended the current consultation on unlawful P2P file sharing to 29 September. Responses received so far will still be given full consideration.
Minister for Digital Britain, Stephen Timms said:
“Technology and consumer behaviour is fast-changing and it’s important that Ofcom has the flexibility to respond quickly to deal with unlawful file-sharing.
“We’ve been listening carefully to responses to the consultation this far, and it’s become clear there are widespread concerns that the plans as they stand could delay action, impacting unfairly upon rights holders.
“So we look forward to hearing views on our new ideas, which along with those already received, will help us determine the best way to tackle this complex challenge.”
After listening to views from all sides, the Government is also seeking views on how the costs of the process should be covered. It proposes that some costs, such as the operating costs of sending out notifications and Ofcom’s costs as the Regulator, should be shared equally between ISPs and rights holders.
Notes to editors:
- The explanatory statement on P2P file-sharing can be viewed at http://www.berr.gov.uk/administration/page13625.html
- On 16 June, the Government set out its action plan for the digital economy in the Digital Britain report http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting/5631.aspx
Tags: Digital Britain
August 25th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Silly government. Copyright is there to foster creating of creative works, not as a stick to criminalize as much of the populace as it can. When will it be there for its citizens again, instead of for umbrella organisations of big corporations and conglomerates that are afraid to innovate?
August 25th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
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August 25th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
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August 27th, 2009 at 1:11 am
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August 29th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Response to Cellar.
The UK Government’s intention is to try to cut down illegal/unauthorised filesharing not consensual or authorised/legal filesharing.
I agree that they are silly: too little too late. And I am curious as to how exactly illegal file sharing/piracy will be distinguished from legitimate filesharing.
“Copyright is there to foster creating of creative works,”
Yes and how it does this is by giving the originators of those creative works some protection against those who would use, abuse or profit from those works. It is there to ensure that the originators of authentic work have some chance to benefit from that work & to have some control over how it is distributed.
“not as a stick to criminalize as much of the populace as it can.”
blocking access to download sites, reducing broadband speeds, or by temporarily suspending the individual’s Internet account is hardly criminalising the populace.
“ When will it be there for its citizens again, instead of for umbrella organisations of big corporations and conglomerates that are afraid to innovate?”
It is still supposed to be there for those citizens who make “creative works”. Other citizens have the right to fair use of that copyrighted material. The terms of Fair Use should be changed to protect citizens from criminalisation.
But if you mean that citizens should have the rights to do whatever they like with the work of other citizens then in fact there would be no copyrights or Intellectual Property Rights for anyone.
“instead of for umbrella organisations of big corporations and conglomerates that are afraid to innovate?”
As far as I can see filesharing has just resulted in other types of organisations that profit from the creative work of citizens.
How much money has The Pirate Bay been sold for?
How many of the “filesharing” search or “sharing” sites charge a subscription fee?
How many adverts & pop ups do you have to wade through to get to your “free” download?
How many of the cheap MP3 sites are really just selling illegal / unauthorised downloads?
How many warez groups get paid every time you download something?
All this talk about copyright being used as a stick against filesharing is just manipulative bullshit. It’s a great way to get people on the side of these organisations who are basically just ripping off everyone: the producers of the work & also those who want it for “free”.
In all the arguments made by those who support illegal /unauthorised filesharing all I ever see is people referring to “ big corporations & conglomerates” or huge entertainment artists.
So what about all the independent music labels and producers film production companies, & games & software developers who surely are attempting to provide the innovation you crave for ?
How does unauthorised /illegal filesharing or illegal selling of their work foster the creation of new & innovative work?
How do they recoup their costs?
What do you suggest : do they give their creative work away & hope to cover costs by selling T shirts & badges that can’t be fileshared ?
Do you suggest that recording artists stop recording new work and instead make endless performances of old work in order to survive financially?
IMO people who are involved in the unauthorised “sharing” of the work of others are in fact helping these ” big corporations and conglomerates that are afraid to innovate” to achieve an even greater stranglehold on the entertainment industries.
It is the independent producers & distributors who lose the most: not the big entertainment corporations.
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:08 pm
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