Becky Hogge, 18 August 2008
Last month, the Government announced it would be consulting with the public on ways to curb illicit filesharing. ORG will be developing a response to the consultation over the next two months and we'd like your help.
We’ve put the Executive Summary of the consultation document online. Please use our interactive consultation tool to tell us what you think of the Government’s options for combating illicit filesharing. The Government’s "preferred" option is to have codes of practice designed by ISPs and rightsholders in collaboration with OfCom, which oblige ISPs to take action against subscribers to their network believed to infringing copyright over p2p. This includes taking action against "repeat infringers", although the document is short on detail about what such action might entail. Several other options are outlined:
Options A3 and A4 mirror developments in other countries in Europe, such as the Olivennes Bill in France, or court cases in Belgium and Ireland brought by rightsholders to compel ISPs to install filtering equipment. Click here to leave your comments on the Government’s options for dealing with illicit filesharers. You can download the full text of the consultation document here [pdf].
