The Digital Economy Act has understandably, never been met with cheers from the general populous, and has been criticised and booed from the get go. At last, today, there’s some (moderately) good news for the average web user.
Under the anti-piracy scheme set up under the Digital Economy Act, rights holders will send the IP addresses of those ignoring copyright rules to ISPs, whose responsibility it will be to send out warning letters to users, on a three strikes per year basis, after which legal teams can swing into action.
Users facing a legal wrangle will have the right to a free appeal, which is good news. Even better news is that the ISPs and rights holders will have to foot the bill for these appeals, creating a major dissuading factor for those wanting to take a legal case forward.
The Internet Service Providers Association, the representative body for ISPs, are understandably annoyed. It said: “The internet offers excellent opportunities for rights holders to access their target market with relevant lawful content without the significant costs associated with a non-digital environment and views today’s announcement as contrary to the promotion of the digital economy.”
Under the Digital Economy Act, 25 per cent of the costs will be paid by the ISPs, and 75 per cent by the rights holders. ISPs though, are understandably disgruntled, as the proceeds of any successful legal action will go stright into the pockets of the rights holders, without ISPs seeing a penny.
The worry for end users is that the ISPs, facing charges for legals action they cannot recoup, may just pass costs onto users anyway, meaning that the cost of those free appeals is just shouldered by everyone, rather than individuals.
What do you think? Will this stop the giants of the entertainment industry throwing their weight around? Should it? Should there be a free appeal? Let us know in the comments?
[via PCPro]
