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Government to crack down on illegal filesharers

The culture secretary Andy Burnham has said the Government will acquire powers to deal with persistent illegal filesharers.

The full details of the Governments response to the issue of music and video filesharing will be revealed in the Digital Britain report later this month.  The move would probably include a requirement for broadband providers to notify offenders.

Many believe this may not be enough, but Burnham insists measures will be place to deal with the problem, which he hints may go further than a simple notification.

However, some are concerned that that any legislation may have detrimental effects for the industry.  In a Guardian report, Charles Caldas, CEO of Merlin, a licensing body for the independent music sector, said that record labels wouldn’t want to see customers prosecuted.

“Yes, we need to protect artists but first there has to be a compelling commercial offer for users,” says Caldas.

However, all those downloading music illegally may not be to blame.   A survey last month by the BI Norwegian School of Management found that users who download music without paying for it are 10 times more likely to pay for music.

Check back as we uncover the Digital Britain report, due later this month.