New anti P2P piracy proposals for Digital Britain consultation

Andrew | 28 Aug 2009, 12:16

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New ideas for action against unlawful peer-to-peer file-sharing were added by the UK Government this week to its ongoing consultation on copyright piracy.

Stephen Timms, the Minister for Digital Britain, is seeking views on three new proposals: powers for the Secretary of State to direct Ofcom into action, the addition of account suspension as a measure of last resort against hard core unlawful file-sharers, and including the arrangements for sharing the costs of action on the face of the legislation. .

The UK Government sees potential in the proposals to allow for swifter action to protect rights holders and more flexibility to respond in the face of unpredictable technological advances.

Others see things differently, with some ISPs, politicians and human rights groups reacting angrily online and in the media to what they see as heavy-handed intervention at a late stage of an already complex debate.

It’s essential that views from every angle are submitted via the illicit peer-to-peer file-sharing consultation — for which the deadline has been extended by two weeks to 29 September 2009.

Even after that date, it seems unlikely that the furore over file-sharing legislation will die down. But, given the promise being shown by new business models like Spotify and the deal between Virgin Media and Universal, it’s essential that the noise coming from one contentious area doesn’t drown out the wider debate around securing creative rights — one of the four key themes for the c&binet forum conference in October.