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Deutsch: Pläne für ein britisches Drei-Treffer-Gesetz
Europe seems to take no notice of the strong opposition against measures to cut down Internet access. After the adoption of the three strikes law in France, UK's politicians found a good background turn to push ahead their three strikes plans.
Business, Innovation & Skills Minister Lord Peter Mandelson confirmed on 25 October 2009 the intention of the UK government to go on with the planned legislation to cut off allegedly illegal Internet downloaders, that was already announced in August 2009.
"What we will be putting before parliament is a proportionate measure that will give people ample awareness (of their wrongdoing) and opportunity to stop breaking the rules. It will be clear to them that they have been detected, that they are breaking the law and risk prosecution. (...) It will also make clear that we will go further and make technical measures available, including account suspension. In this case, there will be a proper route of appeal. But it must become clear that the days of consequence-free, widespread online infringement are over," said Lord Mandelson at the Cabinet Forum talking shop.
He also stated that the suspension measures will only be used as a last resort and that "I have no expectation of mass suspensions resulting. If we reach the point of suspension for an individual, they will be informed in advance, having previously received two notifications, and will have the opportunity to appeal ... the threat for persistent infringers has to be real."
It seems that the UK regulator Ofcom was asked to monitor the file-sharing levels as it was already proposed by the initial Digital Britain report in June 2009.
UK ISPs have long argued that they should not be treated as an Internet police and that they should not bear the costs for the respective measures. Lord Mandelson said in his speech that the costs implied by the application of the legislation should be "shared between ISPs and content providers" while the Internet Service Providers' Association believes that the bearers of the costs should rightfully be the rightsholders according to the principle that the beneficiary pays.
Several ISPs including BT Group and Talk Talk are opposed to the measure considering it inefficient, disproportional and costly. "What is being proposed is wrong in principle and won't work in practice," stated TalkTalk. The company also stated that in case it was imposed to apply extra judicial technical measures, it would "challenge the instruction in the courts," and that it would "continue to resist any attempts to make it impose technical measures on its customers".
Even the counter-intelligence MI5 unit believe that the proposed legislation may have an opposite result and that instead of protecting artists and discouraging illegal downloading, it may encourage "an encrypted and unpoliceable darknet that would affect the artists.
A study published on 2 November 2009 by the London-based think-tank Demos shows that those who illegally download music from he Internet are also those who spend the most money on official records. The survey revealed that a large percentage of people downloading music illegally stated they did it in order to "try before you buy" and about 60% of file sharers stated they would be encouraged to stop illegal downloading if they had the option of new and cheaper music services.
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, has expressed his disappointment related to the government's actions. "Yet Mandelson seems determined to push forward with his plans for 'three strikes' - threatening to punish people extremely harshly, threatening their education, businesses and livelihoods for a relatively minor financial misdemeanour," he said.
The full proposals for the graduated response scheme will be detailed in the Digital Economy Bill later on this year and according to the Business, Innovation & Skills Department, it will come into force in April 2010. The tougher disconnection policy will be introduced in the spring of 2011 if necessary.
In parallel, also on 25 October 2009, an Intellectual Property Office report called © The Way Ahead, was issued, focusing on the liberalisation of copyright. Basically what the report says is that it wants to "move toward a pan-European approach for copyright exceptions in the digital age" which means allowing more use of copyrighted works.
The report states that the rights holders should broader the terms of use for the works they offer and also advocates for the distinction between commercial and non-commercial copying of copyrighted works. According to the report, the government intends to introduce collective licensing and to open orphan works for copying by cultural bodies and businesses.
"We must now work within the international and European framework to ensure copyright keeps up with technology and consumer behaviour. We have to make it simpler, and make it address the concerns of all those who have an interest in the copyright system: business, consumers, creators and copyright owners," says © The Way Ahead report.
Net pirates to be 'disconnected' (28.10.2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8328820.stm
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© the way ahead: A copyright strategy for the digital age (10.2009)
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-strategy-digitalage.pdf
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