Gov’t U-Turns On File-Sharing

The U.K. department for business innovation and skills is saying there is no connection between business secretary Peter Mandelson’s meeting with David Geffen and the U.K. government’s apparent U-Turn on how to deal with music pirates.

Either way, the Hollywood mogul would no doubt approve the harder line the department appears to be taking.

Proposed new laws announced Aug. 26 indicate the government is re-considering whether it should disconnect serial illegal file-sharers, an idea that former communications minister Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report dismissed as being too draconian.

Treasury minister Stephen Timms said the previous plans, which would only have restricted users’ broadband speed, did not go far enough.

That potential punishment remains under the new plans but is accompanied by the possibility of blocking offenders’ access to download sites as well as banning them from the Internet altogether.

The French government tried to introduce a similar law earlier in the year, but it was eventually kicked out because the country’s highest court ruled it was unconstitutional.

In the U.K., privacy groups are likely to challenge any similar legislation as contrary to human rights law.

The U.K.’s Internet service providers are also likely to be less than pleased by the new measures, having already made it clear that they have no wish to police the Web on behalf of the music and film industries.

TalkTalk, Britain’s largest consumer broadband provider, has already warned that innocent Web users could be disconnected after having their connections hijacked by pirates looking to circumvent the new rules. It said the move “will likely breach fundamental human rights.”

A TalkTalk spokesman said, “Barely two months after the publication of largely sensible and pragmatic measures to tackle the problem Lord Mandelson has, it seems, caved in under pressure from powerful lobbyists in the content industry.”

Prior to the announcement of the new proposals, The Guardian reported that Tom Watson, the former cabinet minister who until recently was in charge of the government’s Internet policy, said the plan “will lead to accusations that the government has been captured by the big lobby operations of powerful rights-holders.”

The apparent change of policy has received a warm welcome from the British Phonographic Industry.

“Digital piracy is a serious problem and a real threat to the U.K.’s creative industries. We welcome the government’s recognition that this problem needs to be addressed urgently, so today is a step forward that should help the legal digital market to grow for consumers,” said BPI chief exec Geoff Taylor.

“The solution to the piracy problem must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. We look forward to working with government and ISPs on the details of these proposals to ensure these objectives are met.”

The new government statement is expected to say it will ask interested parties including the BPI, UK Music, and the Music Managers’ Forum to add their comments to the new proposals and that it will be extending its P2P consultation period from Sept. 15-29.

If the measures are passed when they come to parliament in November, Britain would join France in defying a European Parliament ruling in May that prohibited European Union governments from cutting off a user’s Internet connection without first going to court.

That ruling still needs a final stamp after negotiations with the European Council.