Is the threat of being disconnected from the internet encouraging digital pirates to change their behaviour?

How the anti-piracy measures included in its Digital Economy Bill could work in practice.

The industry body’s commissioned its own research into the costs of the Digital Economy Bill’s copyright clauses.

The defendant in Britain’s first prosecution over illegal file-sharing has been found not guilty.

The Digital Economy Bill has been having its first “line by line examination” in Parliament this week.

The owner of a pub that doubles as a Wi-Fi hotspot has paid out £8,000 after someone illegally downloaded material subject to copyright laws on their premises. Meanwhile, a new survey shows that as many as one in five wireless users could be vulnerable to Wi-Fi hijacking across Britain.

It is not only campaigners who are concerned by the anti-piracy measures included in the Digital Economy Bill, legal experts are also at a loss to explain how the government can sanction giving future ministers seemingly limitless powers.
Patrick Gardiner, Media Partner at international law firm, Eversheds, believes that Lord Mandelson is probably trying to ‘future-proof’ [...]

Even though the Spanish government has reportedly already dismissed this option.

The Digital Britain minster’s been speaking in Scotland, promising superfast broadband will bring an array of social, economic and health benefits to consumers and businesses across the country. In order to achieve this, Stephen Timms says £200 million’s been set aside to supplement market-led growth and spend on “areas that have little or no service.”

A new poll’s revealed more money is being spent on legal downloads by illicit file-sharers than law-abiding folk. According to the Digital Music Survey, fifteen per cent of the British population uses peer-to-peer software – and nine per cent will even admit to doing so in order to obtain copyrighted material they haven’t paid for. At the same time, it’s been shown that shutting down a major P2P site may only lead to a boom in alternatives as file-swappers try to fill the vacuum.

A new BitTorrent program could be good for consumers and even, for a change, internet service providers. The news comes as UK ISP Entanet prepares to implement traffic-shaping measures – citing the heavy demand put on its network by peer-to-peer file-sharers as one of the reasons.

Lord Mandelson confirmed today in Cabinet that the controversial ‘three strikes and out’ policy to tackle internet piracy is to go ahead with the new revelations that ISPs and rights holders will share the cost of enforcement.
TalkTalk has been so incensed by the announcement that it has commissioned a ‘bright dancing’ video featuring a pair [...]

The industry body representing the UK’s record companies has just announced this is already the “biggest ever year” for sales of singles in Britain. Meanwhile, figures from the Motion Picture Association of America show that movie takings are, on the whole, rising. With Lord Peter Mandelson expected to outline the Government’s plans for dealing with illegal downloading tomorrow, what price piracy?

“Three strikes” law allowing disconnection for illegal filesharers will be effective before the end of the year.

The culture secretary has revealed the Government is stepping back from its new tough stance on illegal file-swapping, following widespread outcry against the move. Ben Bradshaw now says that a court order will have to be obtained by those wanting punish those they suspect of being persistent offenders – and that nobody will just be cut off “willy nilly.”

Peter Mandelson’s plans to crack down on illegal file-sharing have a critical flaw, according to a senior TalkTalk exec. Andrew Heaney, the group’s Executive Director of Strategy and Regulation, says the ease of hacking Wi-Fi broadband connections on the average UK street means millions of people would be left at risk to “superhighway robbery.”

After BT made the claim that getting tough on Internet piracy would cost around £1 million per day, the body representing the music industry has launched a counter-offensive. BPI boss Geoff Taylor says broadband companies have seen their revenues rising while those of the record business have gone the opposite way because of piracy – and that the ISP’s stance is “just about protecting profits.”

Various musicians campaigned against peer-to-peer file-sharing in the States – but one band in particular gained an international notoriety that refuses to go away. While Napster has long been rebooted as a legal music downloading website, musicians in the UK are now queuing up to become Britain’s answer to Metallica – and one artist in particular is at the front of the line.

BT says that clamping down on Internet piracy could cost as much as £1 million per day – and that the consumer is going to have to pick up the bill in the end. John Petter, the firm’s consumer division boss, is warning of a future “arms race” between those who pirate and those who try and police them. Meanwhile, BT is expected to make an announcement about extending its ADSL2+ infrastructure.

Football is big business, with domestic rights alone to broadcasting Premier League matches worth around £1 billion per year. Illegal Internet coverage is seen as a threat that could undermine that bonanza – and representatives of England’s top division are working to make sure that, when football’s coming to your home, it doesn’t do so in the wrong way.