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The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the UK music trade body, has asked British ISPs to disconnect the users that share music considering that this is just an education measure to their customers not to steal music. However, the UK ISPs are complaining about the fact that they are turned into the Internet police.

The record labels have made pressures on ISPs to take actions to prevent illegal music downloading lobbying for a "three strikes" system (similar to the French one supported by Sarkozy) leading to the disconnection of those who illegally download copyrighted material on the Internet.

BPI is apparently working now with Virgin Media on a trial program that might come to life in a few months and which includes a warning letter at the first offence, a temporary suspension for the second one, and disconnection on the third. The BPI will trace illegal music downloading to individual accounts and will hand these account numbers over to Virgin Media, which will match them to names and addresses.

A spokesman for Virgin Media said: "We have been in discussions with rights holders organisations about how a voluntary scheme could work. We are taking this problem seriously and would favour a sensible voluntary solution."

However, the opinion is not shared by ISPs. Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse, which runs the TalkTalk, the third biggest Internet provider in UK, has expressed a very firm position against the BPI actions and demands. He considers the demands as unreasonable and unworkable and he believes his job is not to be an Internet policeman.

He said: "Our position is very clear. We are the conduit that gives users access to the internet. We do not control the internet, nor do we control what our users do on the internet. I cannot foresee any circumstances in which we would voluntarily disconnect a customer's account on the basis of a third party alleging a wrongdoing" adding that his company would fight to protect its users' rights, using the law.

But BPI is threatening those who do not want to cooperate stating the government would bring in legislation to oblige them to do so. BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: "We believe that any socially responsible ISP should, as a core part of its business, put in place steps to help their customers avoid engaging in illegal activity, and deter those who knowingly break the law. (...) This is not the time for ISPs to delay further. Government clearly shares the creative community's frustration at the failure of ISPs to take action."

The UK Government is expected to find ways to legally enforce the policy proposed by the record labels. In February 2008, the Government said that unless ISPs would voluntarily come to an agreement by April 2009 with the music and film industries, it would implement legislation to regulate the issue. According to industry sources, in April 2008, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform will publish a consultation paper on proposed legal measures.

Another important European actor protests against the French 3 strikes model. Swedish MEP Christofer Fjellner and the former Prime Minister of France, Michel Rocard, proposed a new amendment to the EU's Bono Report on the Cultural Industries that will condemn any measure taken by the EU or nation states that conflicts: "with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access".

The report is discussed today in the European Parliament and could be an important step for positioning purposes. The vote will take place on 10 April 2008.

Policing internet 'not ISP's job' (4.04.2008) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7329801.stm

Virgin Media takes fight to illegal downloaders (2.04.2008)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/03/30/cnvi...

Virgin Media to begin penalizing users for illegal downloads (31.03.2008)
http://www.betanews.com/article/Virgin_Media_to_begin_penalizing_users...

EDRi-gram: UK Government continues to pressure ISPs for Internet filtering (16.01.2008)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.1/uk-isp-filtering

EU Politicians Strike Back Against Three Strikes (7.04.2008)
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/04/eu-politicians-strikes-back-again...