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TUC: Government must make ISPs stop pirates
09 Jun 2009 | 19.02 Europe/London
The General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress says that "up to 25% of all online TV piracy" takes place in the UK and that the country "has the unenviable position of a world leader" in that respect. Writing for The Telegraph, Brendan Barber has argued there's just one week left to save Britain's creative industries - and of course he's referring to the upcoming Digital Britain report.
Barber's most controversial argument is that "The Government must make Internet Service Providers live up to their responsibility to stem the flow of jobs caused by piracy" - something which the man at the top of the UK's largest ISP, TalkTalk, has claimed just isn't possible. "The ISPs have the direct relationship with the file-sharer and all the evidence suggests that, where a system is put in place for dealing with offenders, rates of piracy will fall dramatically," says the TUC General Secretary. "For the vast majority, simply drawing attention to the harm of their actions would be sufficient to correct behaviours." He takes a hard line stance against those who are unrepentant in their illegal file-sharing: their Internet access should be restricted.
For the most part, Barber's views could have come straight from a FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) press release: "Ripping a television programme from a file-sharing website doesn’t just rob the stars or writers of their rewards for their work, it puts the jobs of everyone in the industry at risk." But in a twist reminiscent of anti-abortion campaign messages, he also argues that we should consider the media that never had a chance to see the light of day: "The films never produced, tracks never recorded, DVDs never made available all cost jobs."
According to Barber, 800,000 jobs across Britain depend on the country's creative industries surviving - and his view that they're especially vulnerable in the recession because of the growth of illegal file-sharing on the Internet is certainly a valid one. However, because he's part of the TUC top brass, you might not expect his arguments to come across as being quite so conservative. For instance, there's no call for the wealth being harvested by the film and music companies to be redistributed so that profits take a back seat in order for jobs to be maintained. Instead it's all down to Lord Carter "to tackle ... the direct threat to the jobs in the creative industry."
As the final version approaches, it's going to be interesting to see how many people get on their soapboxes to air their views about what Digital Britain 1.0 should include - with the report due out next week, you'd expect it would already be at the printers by now and that it'd be too late to change its contents. However, after Ben Bradshaw replaced Andy Burnham as culture secretary in last week's hasty Government reshuffle, there is a chance the final draft could yet be revised. "Obviously when there's a change of minister he will be looking at the policy, but we are working on that basis," said a spokesperson for the culture ministry. At present, the final version of Digital Britain is still expected on June 16th.
Further details at [The Telegraph]
Barber's most controversial argument is that "The Government must make Internet Service Providers live up to their responsibility to stem the flow of jobs caused by piracy" - something which the man at the top of the UK's largest ISP, TalkTalk, has claimed just isn't possible. "The ISPs have the direct relationship with the file-sharer and all the evidence suggests that, where a system is put in place for dealing with offenders, rates of piracy will fall dramatically," says the TUC General Secretary. "For the vast majority, simply drawing attention to the harm of their actions would be sufficient to correct behaviours." He takes a hard line stance against those who are unrepentant in their illegal file-sharing: their Internet access should be restricted.
For the most part, Barber's views could have come straight from a FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) press release: "Ripping a television programme from a file-sharing website doesn’t just rob the stars or writers of their rewards for their work, it puts the jobs of everyone in the industry at risk." But in a twist reminiscent of anti-abortion campaign messages, he also argues that we should consider the media that never had a chance to see the light of day: "The films never produced, tracks never recorded, DVDs never made available all cost jobs."
According to Barber, 800,000 jobs across Britain depend on the country's creative industries surviving - and his view that they're especially vulnerable in the recession because of the growth of illegal file-sharing on the Internet is certainly a valid one. However, because he's part of the TUC top brass, you might not expect his arguments to come across as being quite so conservative. For instance, there's no call for the wealth being harvested by the film and music companies to be redistributed so that profits take a back seat in order for jobs to be maintained. Instead it's all down to Lord Carter "to tackle ... the direct threat to the jobs in the creative industry."
As the final version approaches, it's going to be interesting to see how many people get on their soapboxes to air their views about what Digital Britain 1.0 should include - with the report due out next week, you'd expect it would already be at the printers by now and that it'd be too late to change its contents. However, after Ben Bradshaw replaced Andy Burnham as culture secretary in last week's hasty Government reshuffle, there is a chance the final draft could yet be revised. "Obviously when there's a change of minister he will be looking at the policy, but we are working on that basis," said a spokesperson for the culture ministry. At present, the final version of Digital Britain is still expected on June 16th.
Further details at [The Telegraph]