Content Industry Still Want To Disconnect File Sharers

In an effort to bury the hatchet between the content industry and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Britain over the issue of disconnecting illegal file sharers, John Woodward, the head of UK’s Film Council has advocated the need for an amicable settlement between the two parties. 

Incidentally major media companies including the likes Channel 4 and BSkyB have joined forces to present their case for prosecuting illegal file sharers before Communications Minister Lord Carter, who is slated to shortly come up with his much anticipated Digital Britain report.  

Vociferously arguing the case for an agreement over the arrangement in which illegal files sharer need to be tackled, Mr. Woodward mentioned “I am getting increasingly concerned that a legally enforceable graduated response simply may not be deliverable without some sort of a new settlement between the ISPs and the content owners.” 

The content industry claims that due to illegal file sharing across the internet, it losses runs into millions of pounds and it mentions that in UK alone a staggering number of 100 million film downloads were reported in 2007. 

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Though content providers would ideally prefer that ISPs disconnect the internet connections of illegal file sharers, actually enforcing such a measure without a ruling from relevant judicial authorities may not be as easy as it sounds.  

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Our Comments

There are millions of broadband users in the UK that are indulge in online piracy. Millions of pounds are being lost each year due to that. How to prevent more haemorrhage is tricky because it could alienate customers and cause all sorts of negative PR for companies who could be looking to go down that way.

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