New regulations to combat illegal downloads are to be drawn up in moves that could allow Internet Service Providers to remove accounts and pave the way for criminal prosecution of offenders.
The business secretary Lord Mandleson is reported to favour a crackdown on the illegal download of music and films via the internet. A report in the
Times on line states that just days after meeting David Geffen, co-founder of DreamWorks studio, Mandleson ordered officials to tighten existing regulations.
Around 1 in 12 of the UK population regularly download music and films. Internet piracy is estimated to cost the film industry alone around £1.4 billion a year. The British music industry claims a loss of around £180 million a year.
If accepted the proposals would allow the broadcasting regulator Ofcom to log the details of computers that regularly download illegal material. Offenders would be sent a written warning with the potential to have their broadband connection slowed or completely blocked. Failure to comply with a warning might result in the whole household losing its internet connection. The very worst offenders could be prosecuted.
The proposals look set to spark a furious debate. Tom Watson, the former minister for digital enhancement, said
Not only do the sanctions ultimately risk criminalising a large proportion of UK citizens, but they also attach an unbearable burden on an emerging technology that has the power to transform society, with no guarantees at the end that our artists and our culture will get any richer.
The report goes on to say that industry experts predict up to a 70% reduction in piracy if the new regulations are put into force. .
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