No ’3-Strikes’ for UK File-Sharing Pirates

Govt rules out legislation forcing ISPs to disconnect repeat copyright infringers.

David Lammy, the UK’s Intellectual Property Minister, has said in a recent interview with The Times online that the Government has decided against legislation requiring ISPs to terminate the Internet connections of those repeatedly accused of illegal file-sharing.

In short, no “3-strikes-and-your-out” policy for UK file-sharers.

Lammy noted that enforcement of disconnections would be very problematic since it involved so many complex legal issues. Definitive identification of actually copyright infringement also surely played a part in its decision.

“I’m not sure it’s actually going to be possible,” he added.

“We can’t have a system where we’re talking about arresting teenagers in their bedrooms,” Lammy continued. “People can rent a room in an hotel and leave with a bar of soap — there’s a big difference between leaving with a bar of soap and leaving with the television.”

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) director of public affairs Richard Mollet later dismissed the comments, saying British music creators are “sure to be insulted at the analogy between British music and complimentary soap from hotels.”

“It shows an incredible lack of understanding [of the relationship] between music and illegal file-sharing from the minister in charge of intellectual property,” says Mollet. “We are appalled to see him falsely raising the prospect of arresting people in their bedrooms and fail to see what place this has in the discussion.”

Lammy’s comments come on the eve of Lord Carter’s “Digital Britain” report on the future of the country’s digital and communication industries which is due to be released this coming Thursday.

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