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.

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’ [...]

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.

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.”

A report from the All Party Parliamentary Commons Group (Appcom) which calls on ISPs to filter the Net for malware and to put child-protection on mobile devices has met with some bemusement among internet providers.
On the one hand, TalkTalk and other ISPs have reported they are pleased with the report urging the government to reconsider [...]

Sky has broken ranks with leading rival ISPs BT and TalkTalk by revealing it thinks disconnection should not be excluded as a possible answer to piracy.
On the day the Government’s consultation on illegal file sharing closed, Sky supported the general direction the Government is taking and emphasised that it, unlike rivals, has an ability to [...]

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.

Four hundred and forty-five million people in the world have broadband subscriptions. More than two million people have fibre to their home in Europe. And seven million people are pirating online media in the UK – or should that be more like half that? Samknows takes a look at some of the numbers racing around the press at the moment.

A new advertising campaign’s being launched to try and deal with what’s being called “Generation Y-pay,” using soft sell tactics and avoiding the sensationalism of previous attempts. At the same time, it’s emerged that a UK law firm is finally preparing to file its first court cases against online piracy – after sending out hundreds of letters warning alleged file-sharers it would do just that.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that there’d been a changing of the guard at the post of intellectual property minister – or that the role had been scrapped altogether. But David Lammy’s one of men who’s kept his position while the likes of Digital Britain architect Lord Carter and ex-Culture Secretary Andy Burnham have seen their former responsibilities reshuffled. And, despite Lord Mandelson’s moves towards tough new anti-piracy legislation, it’s refreshing to see he’s not changed his tune.

While the mainstream media were getting themselves worked up about YouTube and PRS finally coming to a financial settlement, it has emerged a band of bodies representing major musicians is mounting a protest against the Government’s recent u-turn on the road towards Digital Britain. The coalition, which the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Damon Albarn associate themselves with, says the ministers’ new proposals are “extremely negative,” expensive and just don’t make sense.

BT, TalkTalk and Orange have taken the unprecedented step of joining forces with consumer groups to urge the government to ditch Lord Mandelson’s plans to cut off suspected illegal downloaders.
Mandelson’s disconnection plans were revealed last month and are in stark contrast to a more placatory approach outlined in Lord Carter’s earlier Digital Britain report. It [...]