The Government’s long awaited Digital Britain report has been published, and one of the new watchdog powers it outlines is the ability to order ISPs to cut piracy by 70% within a year. That’s a tall order – is anyone up to the task?
Gordon Brown was proudly announcing plans to help bolster the UK broadband network earlier today, but he forgot to mention one of the harsher measures mentioned in the Digital Britain report: a proposal that demands ISPs cut piracy by 70%.
A proposal in chapter 4 of the Digital Britain would give watchdog Ofcom the mandate to measure illegal filesharing rates (By its own base and standards) and force ISPs who fail to meet targets to start blocking sites and capping download speeds of persistent offenders.
Ouch. ISPs aren’t going to be happy about that one, and not least because they’d be responsible for footing the bill of letters notifying pirates on their networks. It’s far from being passed in to law just yet of course, but the Digital Britain report does signal what steps the Government intends to take to prevent piracy, so expect a big fallout on this, and fast.
Out TBC | £TBC | Digital Britain (Via The Guardian)
