Government may disconnect illegal net downloaders

12 February 2008

The government is considering legislation to cut off users who use the internet to illegally download films and music, The Times reports.

And users who fall foul of the proposed legislation could be prosecuted, along with their internet service provider (ISP).

The paper claims to have seen a draft of a government Green Paper on the creative industries due to be published next week. In it, ministers commit to "legislate to require internet service providers to take action on illegal file-sharing".

"We support new ways of selling music legally online," commented British Phonographic Industry (BPI) chief executive Geoff Taylor, "but these services are being stifled by a culture of something for nothing from which big telecoms corporations continue to profit at the expense of the music community."

However, a spokesperson for the Internet Service Providers Association told The Times: "Every right-thinking body knows that self-regulation is much the better option in these areas."

Some commentators have been more forthright. In a scathing Telegraph blog entry, Shane Richmond wrote: "While independent artists create imaginative and successful business models, the music industry persists in offering services that are confusing, needlessly limited and over-priced."

"ISPs must resist this wrong-headed plan and they deserve our support in doing so."

Category: e-commerce, Online marketing, Other, Video sharing