UK Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw says Internet disconnection would now require court order and accused would have right of appeal.
UK Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw addressed the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee today and revealed that the govt is backing down slightly from the controversial proposal by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to automatically disconnect repeat file-sharers from the Internet.
Lord Mandelson feels the current timetable, which stands at 2-3 yrs for a 70% reduction using a combination of notifications and technical measures, would take an “unacceptable amount of time to complete in a situation that calls for urgent action.”
Secretary Bradshaw says file-sharers wouldn’t be disconnected “willy nilly” and would now have the right of appeal. He insists that a court order wouldn’t even be needed in most cases, perhaps attributable to studies that show simple warning letters are enough to deter continued file-sharing.
He added that Internet suspension “would be as a very last resort for serial and serious infringement, would be subject to a strict two-stage process. It wouldn’t just happen on the basis of an accusation … firstly there would need to be a court order for any of the technical measures.”
It’s a welcome turn of events that some govt officials have realized disconnecting households from the Internet involves more than a single person and is a matter that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
However, it still belies the true reality of it all which is that the majority of file-sharers will simply turn to alternative methods of P2P outside the detection methods of copyright holders.
Some 32 MPS, and counting, have already signed Tom Watson’s, UK Labor MP for West Bromwich East, Early Day Motion (EDM) stating their belief that “disconnecting alleged offenders will be futile given that it is relatively easy for determined file-sharers to mask their identity or their activity to avoid detection.”
Add to that a recent Wi-Fi survey conducted by ISP Talk Talk which found that some 41% of connections were vulnerable to hijacking and you have to wonder what the govt will actually accomplish.
It certainly won’t be the end of P2P.
Stay tuned.
jared@zeropaid.com
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I suggest we slash the number of useless politicians (so that’s about 5% left) and their fake expenses and use the savings to subsidize filmmakers.
These draconian measures are bad for liberty and privacy. The industry needs a new business model, not more laws.
Na,kill them all,let God sort em out.