It emerged this month that despite an appeal from two of the UK’s biggest internet service providers, the government would be pushing ahead with its latest attempt to more closely police web activity – The Digital Economy Act.
BT and TalkTalk saw their final legal challenge against the legislation thrown out at the court of appeal, having lost their case against a judicial review on all but one ground. But what is this new act and how does it impact these companies who are so opposed to it?
The main focus of the Digital Economy Act is to enable the government to take more action to curb internet piracy via illegal file sharing. However, it will need the help of these ISPs to enforce any action upon individuals who are found to be breaking the law with the content they view or download online – primarily through warning letters, but perhaps more when it comes to persistent offenders.
While entertainment industry representatives, like chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry Geoff Taylor, have welcomed the ruling, BT and TalkTalk are still of the mind that the new rules are incompatible with European law and place an unfair amount of financial burden on them in rights-holders’ attempts to crackdown on illegal downloading.
MEC Opinion: With this latest development in the introduction of new ways to prosecute illegal file sharing, one might be forgiven for thinking that the net was finally closing on people who choose not to pay for software, music, films and much more. However, the government will have to work very closely with these reluctant ISPs if they are to enforce the bill – which could be problematic.
Another point to consider is how innovative pirates usually have the capacity to sidestep any measures that are introduced to stop them from getting – and sharing – the material they want. So really, the more important question is what is being planned in terms of technology for identifying these law breakers? Once this is answered, the government will have to address the complex issue of how they prosecute these pirates – which means the debate could be far from over at this stage.
