Music Industry Praises Deal Forcing ISPs to Combat Illegal File-Sharing

Deal even includes the MPAA (of AMERICA) in a combined effort towards a “significant reduction” in illegal file-sharing.

Late last night I reported how the Internet as some know it will forever be changed as word came that the UK’s six largest ISPs and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that for the first time will require ISPs to work with music and other rightsholders towards a “significant reduction” in illegal file-sharing. 

To achieve this, in the first year hundreds of thousands of warning letters will be sent by participating ISPs to customers whose accounts have been identified by BPI as “being used illegally” (odd phrasing right?).

BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor writes:

This MOU represents a significant step forward, in that all ISPs now recognise their responsibility to help deal with illegal filesharing.

Government has played an important role in bringing all parties together to arrive at this point, but the work really begins now.  We look forward to creating the procedures necessary to effectively tackle repeated unlawful filesharing with the other signatories and Ofcom.

BPI has always believed that a partnership approach is the best way forward, as we showed with our education campaign with Virgin Media, launched in May.  This has demonstrated that ISPs and the music business can work together positively to raise awareness about illegal files-haring.  And, working with government, we have been able to build on that progress and encourage other major ISPs to start taking a responsible approach.

In addition, the music business is constantly innovating to offer new, safe and legal ways to enjoy music online, and to create a future for digital music where creativity and copyright are respected. This MOU will help to create an environment in which such new digital services models can flourish.

John Kennedy, Chairman and CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, also wasted no time praising the deal and is surely passing around bottles of champagne at his corporate HQ.

He comments:

The UK agreement is a big step towards reaching a solution to online piracy, and it shows that the process of engaging ISPs that was set in motion in France last year is gathering real momentum internationally. The British Government has demonstrated that it wants ISPs to join in an effective partnership with creative industries. It is important that it now drives the process forward to a solution with urgency, and that it achieves concrete, measurable results. This is very good news for a music sector which is developing new business models but which can only succeed if the widely-acknowledged problem of online piracy is resolved.

There are still many unanswered questions however, for it remains to be seen what additional steps will be taken to fight illegal file-sharing. Surely, all will tire of meaningless warning letters at some point, the BPI included, and it seems that reports now indicate that they will merely be part of a three-month trial. The ISPs and rights holders will then work together with the media regulator Ofcom to come up with a Code of Practice on how to act if this does not work.

The Code of Practice is certain to include much more drastic measures.

With the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) also reported to have signed onto the deal it really should give UK citizens pause and consider that in slow succession various copyright holder groups are lining up to keep an eye on you and your Internet traffic in order to prevent their profits. All data transfers may soon undergo virtual bodyscans for contraband material. The fact that an association based in AMERICA (its name even says so) is also given a say in matters concerning British citizens is even more unsettling.

Would we give the the BPI even a moment of our time here in the US? I think not.

Talk about a police state.

Related Posts

1. Court order granted forcing ISPs to reveal file sharers to British Music Industry
2. UK ISP, Record Industry Join Forces to Fight Illegal File-Sharing
3. UK Govt Wants ISPs to Crack Down on Illegal File-Sharing
4. UK ISPs: ‘We’re not Responsible for Illegal File-Sharing on Our Networks’
5. UK Music Boss: Deal with ISPs Has Potential for ‘Lot of Damage’