British Government Says No To Three Strikes

from the technical-measures dept

The British government has been working on its "Digital Britain" report, which covers a range of tech issues, including copyright and file-sharing. Earlier drafts of the report basically seemed like a proxy for the recording industry, as the government looked to set up an agency run by the industry itself to police copyright infringement. One of the industry's goals has been for the government to deputize ISPs, and force them to keep tabs on their customers' activity and take steps to cut down on illegal downloading and file-sharing. The ultimate goal of the British recording industry, like its counterparts elsewhere, was to see the country adopt a three-strikes system that would see persistent infringers booted off ISPs' networks. But a government minister has implied the final Digital Britain report won't back a three-strikes plan, and will likely include new (and undefined) "technical solutions" to be determined by the UK's communications regulator, alongside mandating that ISPs send out notification letters to illegal downloaders. There is speculation that these technical solutions will involve speed caps on infringing users, which sounds like a less bad plan than three strikes -- but it's still not clear why the government, or ISPs, need to get involved to help prop up the recording industry's faltering business models.

Filed Under: file sharing, technical measures, three strikes, uk