Crackdown deal on internet piracy
Updated on 24 July 2008
Internet service providers (ISPs) and the music industry have reached an agreement to clamp down on illegal downloads.
It is thought that around 6.5 million Britons have downloaded music and films illegally over the past year and estimates suggest that the practice will cost the recording industry up to £1 billion over the next five years.
The fightback against online piracy will begin with letters to thousands of the most prolific downloaders to inform them that their activity has been detected and is being monitored.
The Government's departments for business and culture hailed the "world-first solution" agreed by the industry to address unlawful file-sharing.
Britain's six largest ISPs - BT, Virgin Media, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse - signed a memorandum of understanding with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the body which represents record companies in the UK.
ISPs have agreed to commit themselves to developing legal file-sharing services and to ensure their customers know that it is illegal to share copyright-protected music.
It is thought likely that many parents will learn for the first time from the letters that their children are using their bedroom PCs and laptops for illegal piracy.
Business Secretary John Hutton said: "This is an intelligent approach to tackling unlawful file-sharing by industry and ISPs. It tells consumers what they can do, rather than just what they can't."
ISPs and film and music companies are expected to develop a new code of practice together on how they will deal with infringements, and the Government will then look at their proposals and consider how they can be backed up by new laws.
Feargal Sharkey, the former Undertones singer who is now chief executive of British Music Rights, the body that represents musicians, said the industry wanted to co-operate with downloaders to address the problem of piracy.
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