Mandelson leads attack against illegal file sharers

by Dan Leahul, Brand Republic 17-Aug-09, 09:05

LONDON - Business secretary Lord Mandelson is leading a fresh campaign against illegal downloaders in the UK, days after meeting with Hollywood mogul David Geffen while on holiday in Corfu.

Mandelson is demanding that internet service providers be given new powers to suspend the accounts of web surfers who persistently download pirated music or films.

Parents risk £50,000 fines if their children are suspected of downloading illegal content under the proposed regulations.

Mandelson is under pressure to stem the tide of illegal downloading in the UK under targets set in the Digital Britain report -- due to be published next month -- calling for a 70% reduction of online piracy within a year.

Industry lobby efforts came in the form of David Geffen, who earlier this month, was seen dining with Mandelson while holidaying in Greece.

Geffen, an eminent figure in Hollywood and the music industry, has long been an outspoken critic of illegal file sharing.

A spokesman for Mandelson denied that he and Geffen discussed internet piracy or anything to do with the Digital Britain report during their meeting, and that the new regulations had been in development for "a matter of weeks".

Under the old recommendations, ISPs would be granted the power to "squeeze" the bandwidth of internet users who were downloading illegal content, in effect, slowing down internet speeds to make downloading large files an impossibility.

Mandelson is recommending that Ofcom and ISPs now keep records of computers being used to regularly download illegal material.

Persistent offenders would be tracked through their computer ID numbers and sent written warnings.

Those who fail to stop would have their internet blocked, with fines issued to the worst offenders.

It is estimated that one in 12 of the UK population illicitly download content, or about 7m people.

Tom Watson, the former minister for digital enhancement, spoke to the Daily Telegraph, slamming the draconian proposals: "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."

Comments

Matt Warren - 17/08/2009

If 7 million people seem to think that it's a good idea to have immediate and permanent access to this media, then I would suggest that the market be expanded to cater for these people's wants. Branding them criminals and enforcing the population to adhere to an outdated system because you can't be bothered to improve it is insane - if it were any other industry in the world they would have adapted and grown. It would also be interesting to see whether the people downloading content would have bothered with it at all if it weren't available through download. Are they actually broadening their viewing habits and increasing the potential for future sales? Not to mention the biggest issue - proving that a persons downloads are illegal! With Netflix, Iplayer, 4OD, youtube,i-tunes,xbox live et al allowing the download/streaming of huge files, how do you pick up on which ones aren't allowed? My bandwidth is put to extremely good use by a family of 6, each with their own laptop/pc, busily streaming/uploading data while I play live HD games through XBL...I live in fear of getting cut off as it is and I'm not even doing anything wrong!

Mark Griffiths - 17/08/2009

About a third of drivers think it's OK not to indicate and that there's nothing wrong with driving at 60 in 30mph zones. So, we should relax the Highway Code and let the road market adapt to the way people really are!!! It would be really good for the car industry. Equally, high street shops should stop employing store detectives and wasting money on surveillance systems because it's only a minority 1 million of the population that nicks things regularly. In fact, that's just the way these people like to shop, so the rest of us ought to learn somethign from their corner-cutting activities in a fast-paced world. Actually, Matt, rules is rules, theft is theft. And illegal downloading is illegal downloading. Against the rules. Theft.

Evi Karmou - 17/08/2009

There are so many ways for the music and film industry to make money through file-sharing and online streaming. For years they are trying to fight something that has grown bigger and getting out of proportion for them to handle. I would love to see who will laugh better in the end, and I do not think it is going to be them since 'illegal' file-sharers will always find a way to exchange their files through the internet. They are taking a revolutionary mean and instead of adapting to it, they are trying to tackle it with narrow-minded measures that cannot really stop a global phenomenon!

Joe Hughes - 18/08/2009

The problem is not wether the industry can make money but rather wether the publishers can. The publishers are the big guys in this world and its their business that is under threat. Artist can and have \(think RadioHead and Nine Inch Nails) make money but companies like universal are getting squeezed. The big publishers have no interest in the consumer or the music. Not only are files very easy to download but often paid for services either use some from DRM so you can;'t freely enjoy the music or tie you contarcts were your music can be removed and you don't actually ever own it as has happened with HMV. The best and only way to sort out this whole mess is for the publishers to offer non crippled and fairly priced downloads and as this won't happen they will slowly go out of business regardless of goverment intervention.