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Lawmakers join ISPs in criticism of UK 3 Strikes proposal

20 October 2009 10:54 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 4 comments

The All Party Communications Group (apComms), an independent group of Members of Parliament and Lords in the UK, has released a report blaming record labels for their own losses from illegal file sharing.

In their report, the group wrote "We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available."

The report specifically addressed Business Secretary Peter Mandelson's proposal to kick accused file sharers off the internet.

Lord Mandelson's 3 strikes approach would make ISPs responsible for tracking their customers' communications to identify people who may be engaged in copyright infringement.

"We do not believe that disconnecting end users is in the slightest bit consistent with policies that attempt to promote eGovernment, and we recommend that this approach to dealing with illegal file-sharing should not be further considered," reads the apComms report titled "Can we keep our hands off the net?."

It also criticizes lawmakers for not waiting to act until EU officials have had the chance to complete work on changes to the Telecoms Package.

We think that it is inappropriate to make policy choices in the UK when policy options are still to be agreed by the EU Commission and EU Parliament in their negotiations over the �Telecoms Package,� says the report. "We recommend that the Government terminate their current policy-making process, and restart it with a new consultation once the EU has made its decisions.

The European Council and Parliament have been debating amendments to define a consumer's right to have an internet connection, and others to make ISPs responsible for monitoring their customers' internet activity.

While lawmakers discuss the legal ramifications of the proposed law, UK ISP Talk Talk has been demonstrating the practical issues, particularly the lack of security even on many secured Wi-Fi networks.

Last Tuesday TalkTalk's Director of Strategy and Regulation said "the plan won�t work in practice. It will actually encourage offenders to use Wi-Fi and PC hijacking more frequently and so increase the chances of innocent users being falsely accused and disconnected."

Of the Wi-Fi security issues he asked, "Will people be required to upgrade to WPA and throw away much of their equipment such as games consoles that can only run using WEP or open Wi-Fi networks? What will happen if WPA is compromised in the future; will the whole country have to upgrade their Wi-Fi equipment again to avoid the risk of prosecution?"

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

Proposed UK law would force ISP sanctions against file sharers (20 November 2009)

Illegal downloaders stlil buying more music than most (3 November 2009)

MEPs back down on due process for disconnecting file sharers (25 October 2009)

MPAA revamping antipiracy strategy (22 October 2009)

Streaming is replacing P2P according to new study (21 October 2009)

'Three strikes' law is 'naive', says UK ISP (16 October 2009)

'Three strikes' law will hurt ISPs more than music piracy hurts labels, says BT (26 September 2009)

UK bands fight controversial three-strikes law (13 September 2009)

ISPs blast UK proposal to cut off file sharers (30 August 2009)

European Parliament says court order required for ISP disconnection (11 May 2009)

European Parliament to consider legal measures against P2P sites and users (3 February 2009)

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Unfocused (Member) 20 October 2009 12:28
Finally! A statement from The Powers That Be that actually makes sense. [ + quote]
creaky (Moderator) 20 October 2009 12:40
Good grief, did i just read what i thought i read ?. /gobsmacked Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS/WPA ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 4node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G v3.1, WRT54G2 v1, WRT54G v5. * Forum Rules * [ + quote]
plazma247 (Junior Member) 21 October 2009 4:15
WoW Thats restored some of my faith in Parliament... at last there are some MP's out there not talking as a puppet for the media maffia... or was it all their way of aking to be one and get some back handers.. maybe there are not all like Lord Mandelson after all... or are they. Can see a might boosh joke forming there lol. But seriously WPA is already compromised, ok its takes a lot longer and with a strong key it would take years, but reconfiguring 100's of routers for customers in the past i would say 10 percent of people who self install use no security 40 percent use WEP normally due to peope having old equiptment or pre configured routers and lack of experience an 50% on wpa. Those on wpa i would say 20 percent are using seriously week passwords which with a dictonary attack would fall sooner than later.. i know when i looked last time a lot of work had been done with rainbow tables.. so even some of the more complex passwords could be obtained. I hope this report actually gets listened to, with the ISP basically saying the same (probably due to the costs implicatios if a 3SL (Three Strike Law). To be honest im sure if mr golden balls (david cameron) whats to seriously win the next electrion one of the best ways would to increase votes would be to also join side with this report and the ISP's Bring back tony he didnt give a hoot and long as we let him play army half way round the world... note thats not an advocation of war (just an observance) and now we stuck with Credit Crunch Brownie. Who one week says one week he will look into prosecution of MP's who over stepped the mark on expense claims, 3 - 4 days later we hear that he and others have just been told to pay back yet more expenses... no word yet if hes planning to prosecute himself, lol Just my two pennys worth. [ + quote]
deejayess (Newbie) 21 October 2009 6:49
This is such a tricky issue. At times it appears when you read an article like this opposing some kind of legislation from coming into play due to saying it is the fault of the music companies for not acting quick enough to counter illicit filesharing, some people out there might think that they are being given a green light to use and abuse their internet connections for the use of p2p. It needs to be said that filesharing is still wrong regardless but at the same time, disconnecting end users of the internet will not do anything but build bad PR for the ISPs, the government and the music industry. I doubt that should the most hardcore illegal filesharers have their p2p services taken from them that they are going to submit to the music companies by purchasing overpriced music...i think the most serious infringers are of the mindset now of thinking they expect music and film for free and so if the music industry stops their 'fun' so to speak, then they will not line the pockets of the music execs either This is a very interesting time for all parties involved Dave UK [ + quote]