Broadband providers urged to stamp out illegal downloads

Broadband providers urged to stamp out illegal downloads

Broadband providers are coming under pressure from record labels to help stamp out illegal downloading of pirated online material.

BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and BSkyB have all been asked by record labels to help form a database to track persistent illegal downloaders, which could eventually be used to disconnect or prosecute them.

Some of the most common items to be illegally downloaded over the internet include films, books, music and television programmes.

The proposed measures will be discussed at Downing Street on 12 September, when the trade association for record labels, the BPI, and the British Video Association will come together.

A BPI spokesperson told the Guardian newspaper: “We expect a range of issues to be covered, including encouraging the growth of legal digital music services in the UK and overseas exports.

"As concerns the Digital Economy Act, we will discuss with Government the need for swifter action to reduce online copyright theft, improve consumer awareness of legal services and make the UK the leading digital economy in Europe,” the spokesperson added.

While the Digital Economy Act was voted into law in 2010, it has yet to be implemented. The act – which was created in a bid to stamp out digital piracy in the UK – requires broadband providers that have more than 400,000 users to send warning letters to those that have downloaded pirated material. The act is not expected to come into force until 2014, and it could even be delayed until 2015, reports say.

Ofcom recently announced that 280 million music tracks were digitally pirated in this country between November of last year and January of this year. Alongside this, 29 million films and 52 million TV programmes were also downloaded illegally.

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