RIAA and UK goverment targets piracy.
According to a leaked letter, illegal file sharing in the UK is about to be hit hard by the British government. Following similar crackdowns in North America, where the likes of Torrentspy and others have had to close doors, illegal file sharing sites are about to come under the scrutiny just as intensively.
UK newspaper The Guardian claims to have a letter from UK Business Minister Baroness Vadera, which cites a proposed agreement between the UK entertainment industry, the major Internet service providers and the Government. According to the agreement, a target of 80% has been set as far as the cutting down of illegal file sharing by 2011.
With an estimated 7 million users of illegal file sharing sites in the UK alone, it would mean each ISP would have to send out an average 1,000 letters per week to customers that are known to use file sharing sites to download movies and music illegally. To further combat the problem, the Government are also proposing a $60 yearly licensing fee to allow legal downloads.
With the shambolic situation of current UK ISP’s, there must be some doubt over how effective these new proposals will actually be, and how it would affect customers who already use alternative methods to get online.
Filed under: Tech Time | Tagged: bit torrent websites, file sharing websites, illegal download sites, illegal movie downloads, p2p downloads, riaa
Well – that’s a big waste of paper….
[...] illegal downloaders, it’s clear to anyone without blinkered vision that the MPAA, RIAA and other worldwide regulatory bodies are fighting a losing battle against file sharing [...]