Slap On The Wrist For File-Sharers

Rather than adopting the French method of “three strikes and you’re out,” the UK proposals being put forward suggest that ISPs should send repeat offenders emails to let them know they’re breaking the law.

After three warnings, rather than face the threat of legal action and Internet disconnection, the illegal file-sharers would get a final fourth warning.

The rules, which reportedly have an educational tone and contain no threat of legal action, are the result of the four years of discussions that the government’s had with the ISPs, the British Phonographic Industry and the Motion Picture Association.

The BPI certainly appears to have softened its approach. In February 2008, when the UK government was looking at adopting the “three strikes” method that the French had just initiated, (then) communications director Matt Phillips told the BBC that the BPI wanted legislation based on the French model.

However, current BPI spokesman Gennaro Castaldo, whose organization has helped frame the new rules, recently told The Independent: “[They’re] first and foremost an education initiative, and education initiatives by their very nature are not about sanctions or the use of a stick.”

Criticism has come from the likes of Steve Kuncewicz, an expert on Internet law at legal firm Bermans LLP, who told The Independent that musicians and other artists ended up with a “very watered down, pretty pointless” agreement that merely amounted to telling people “Don’t do it again.”

The proposed new rules seemed to do little to bother Jack Allnutt, a spokesman for the UK Pirate Party, which campaigns for Internet freedom.

“It’s ridiculous to think that a spam programme will do anything to benefit artists,” he said. “These emails will no doubt end up filed in the same place as appeals for bank account details from ex-dictators.”