Net Firms In Music Pirates Deal

Jul 24th, 2008

BBC

By: BBC
 
UK - Six of the UK's biggest net providers have agreed a plan with the music industry to tackle piracy online.

The deal, negotiated by the government, will see hundreds of thousands of letters sent to net users suspected of illegally sharing music.

But the music industry wants people's internet cut off if they ignore repeated warnings, something the web firms say they are not prepared to do.

The six firms are due to be named when the deal is officially confirmed later.

Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, said the plan was 'a first step, and a very big step, in what we all acknowledge is going to be quite a long process'.

The plan commits the firms to working towards a 'significant reduction' in the illegal sharing of music.

It also commits the net firms to develop legal music services, the BBC has been told.

Letters to pirates
The six firms are understood to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding drawn up by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR).

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Why should I yet again pay for, say, the Beatles' White Album at full whack? I already bought it on LP, eight-track, cassette, and CD! This is those customers getting their own back.

Mark, Hampshire
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The BBC has been told the firms have agreed to ensure their customers know it is illegal to share copyrighted music.

It is believed that the memorandum also requires net firms to go further in their attempts to tackle illegal file-sharing.

At the same time the government is also expected to start a consultation exercise that could result in laws that force net firms to tackle music piracy.

In the past few weeks net firms Virgin and BT have sent letters to some customers identified by the BPI, which represents the UK record industry, as persistent music pirates.

'Long process'
Before now the BPI has called for a 'three-strikes' system which would see net connections of persistent pirates terminated if three warnings went ignored.

Many net firms have resisted the call from the BPI and have said it is not their job to act as policemen.

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Mr Sharkey, formerly lead singer with The Undertones added: 'Government, particularly in the UK, has now realised there is an issue, there is a problem there.'

One BBC News website user Mark, from Hampshire, said he downloaded and shared files illegally and argued customers were 'getting their own back'.

In an e-mail, he said: 'I used to run half a dozen record shops in the 80s and saw how far the fat cats of the record industry would go, in milking customers and retailers dry with more hyped rubbish.'

'Why should I yet again pay for, say, the Beatles' White Album at full whack? I already bought it on LP, eight-track, cassette, and CD! This is those customers getting their own back.'

'So will this make me sharing a CD with my next-door neighbour over the fence illegal?' he added.