Andre Yoskowitz
24 Jul 2008 10:06
England's six largest ISPs have all joined together with the government to "clamp down" on unauthorized downloading of music and movies.
Estimates have suggested that 6.5 million British citizens have downloaded unauthorized files over the last year and that piracy will cost the music industry £1 billion over the next five years.
The new clamp down will begin with thousands of warning letter informing alleged users that their illegal activity has been detected and that they are now being monitored.
The Governments business department will sign the industry agreement soon with BT, Virgin Media, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse.
All the ISPs have committed to developing legal file-sharing services, with perhaps the option of users paying extra per month to the ISPs to download unlimited legal music.
There was no word yet on what sanctions would happen to persistent online pirates but ideas that have been thrown around are the so-called "three strikes" law or additional broadband fees for heavy users.