UK Government threatens "technical measures" in file-sharing clampdown

Ofcom to regulate P2P?

5 June 2009 11:17 GMT / By Duncan Geere

The UK government's culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has announced that "technical measures" may be implemented, as part of the fight against illegal file-sharing.

Later this month, Lord Carter's "Digital Britain" report is due, and the measures contained within on how to deal with file-sharing have been eagerly anticipated by ISPs and content providers. Both have been arguing for the past year over who should cut off offenders.

Talking to Music Week's "Making Online Music Pay" conference, Burnham said that it was likely that there would be a requirement for ISPs to notify subscribers who share content illegally. A simple notification has been offered by the ISPs before, but stops short of cutting off connections.

He also said however, that the government reserves the right to apply "technical measures" against persistent offenders: “Applying these measures will be a serious business, and not one we take lightly, but it is right that they are in place”.

No further detail was given, prompting speculation that Burnham doesn't really know exactly how the technical side of things would work yet either, but he ruled out a "three-strikes" policy like the French government's approach.

Update: Andy Burnham is now Health Minster! There's no word yet on who'll be replacing him.

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Comments

  • These new laws are just the death throws of an obsolite music industry. The record companies are middle men, now the artists have more control. No one profits from filesharing, it should be legal. Posted by Jeffy, UK
  • stop paying music industry fatcats extortionate wages and start lowering the price of cds & dvds then maybe people will start buying it instead of freeloading Posted by hans zoetermelk, uk
  • Completely agree with Jeffy, any laws aimed at stopping illegal filesharing at ISP/user level will be completely unworkable as any filesharer worth his salt encrypts all data transfer. This means that no-one knows what you're downloading/sharing therefore all they would have to go on is the fact you're transferring large amounts of data, which as anyone who streams HD video/ uses VOIP/ VPNs etc knows is perfectly legal... Posted by Martin, England
  • The music and film industries need to change with the times if they could convert to systems like Spotify which has free and legal file sharing/streaming then surely everyone wins. We get free music and the music industry gets paid by the advertising companies. Posted by walschie, UK
  • Just use spotify.com app for streaming legal tunes . End of story ! Posted by jim, uk
  • there is no evidence for file sharing destroying sales of bands ... its impossibel to isolate the causative factors.

    Besides this legislation just makes me want to write p2p encryption proxy ... then nobody know what anybody is downloading ...
    Posted by john, england
  • Huh? Unless the Government can get past 256-bit RSA data encryption, I don't see how they can see what I'm download or uploading. Posted by Jay MacDonald, UK
  • There is no evidence that the music and film industry is losing billions either. They are just blowing smoke.

    Besides filesharing is legal anyway.

    Posted by DickWeed, uk
  • 1 change business models
    2 embrace ALL file sharing as a form of advertising
    3 stop turning fan's into criminals
    4 SHUT THE BLEEP UP
    Posted by t0m5k1, UK
  • the big industries are lossing money because more & more people are buying digital formats which are avaliable online.

    more & more artist's are going independant and selling more online thereby getting more royalties.

    more & more artist's are realising how much they dont get from the big boy's who control it all with their lengthy contracts & out of order copyright cases against the global public.

    therefore if they dont sell dvd's, cd's etc then the distributors current formats are not really needed but all the time they try to say that the digital formats are only used by us pirates then more people who do not fully understand it all will listen to the big industry bullies which results in dumb ass laws like this one being passed.
    Posted by t0m5k1, UK
  • I did get some files using peer to peer in the early days. I was on dialup then too! You don't need much speed just patience. So throttling the connection down to dialup speeds wouldn't make much difference.

    I only got the tracks I had purchased on pre recorded tape or vinyl records. I had no CD's back then. I figured as I had paid for the music already, that it was OK. I could have fed the record player into the line in on the sound card, but that meant having the computer and there radiogram in the same room, and getting the right connecting leads.

    If I tried to use Napster under this throttling idea I could find myself at dialup speeds. Well that is often the case now, so I don't think I would notice the difference.
    Posted by Allan Weaver, England
  • They seem to be focusing on the people receiving the files, when they need to focus on those supplying the content illegally. Of cource people will be tempted to download something illegally if they can get it free. Stop it at the source.

    Maybe the government should back legal free music online, like last.fm or spotify, ie let more people know these legal ways to listen to music free exist.

    If they start cutting off people's internet, there will be an increase in network hacking so people can continue their illegal activities without their internet being at risk.
    Posted by eldris, UK
  • the keyboard in the image is from an acer aspire one... Posted by dave, uk
  • My car goes 155 miles an hour. Just because I can travel that fast by putting my foot to the board does not make travelling at that speed on a motorway legal or right. Copyright protection exists for the benefit of the owner. It is not up to an individual to unilaterally decide to treat that copyright as his own just because it is easy to do. Posted by Joe Bloggs, United Kingdom

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