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Business News Digital Labels & Publishers
UK ISPs to finally start sending warning letters to suspected file-sharers
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 13 January 2017
Those with very good memories indeed might remember that time way back in the dim and distant past known as 2010. Amazingly with hindsight, back then we all thought that New Labour constituted bad politics, despite noted philosopher Kylie Minogue always reminding us “better the devil you know”. It was that year that the Parliament of this United Kingdom passed a Digital Economy Act which included a provision forcing internet service providers to send stern warning letters to suspected file-sharers, telling them to buck up their ideas and stop nicking pop songs off the internet.
Those paying special attention will also remember that no such stern warning letters were ever sent. Though, in 2014 the copyright industries and the big internet service providers all backed a new government-led initiative called Creative Content UK which, we were told, would run a super-duper educational campaign all about copyright and piracy, after which some warning letters with a little sternness would finally be sent to those suspecting of accessing music and movies from dodgy online sources.
The educational bit then launched in 2015 in the form of the ‘Get It Right From a Genuine Site’ campaign, not necessarily the worst attempt at copyright education ever undertaken since the dawn of time itself, though currently the only contender for that prize. Put it this way, it certainly made you re-evaluate the music industry’s own decidedly lacklustre Music Matters anti-piracy programme, which was genius by comparison.
But worry not, now all that shit’s out the way, let’s get sending out some letter’s shall we? And, according to ISPreview, that’s going to start later this month, with BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Sky Broadband all set to start writing to any good old fashioned file-sharers on their books (as identified by rights holders), telling them to get a fucking Spotify account. Or at least use YouTube. I mean, all of your favourite artists might keep telling you YouTube are scum, but they’re the good kind of scum.
So that’s all good news isn’t it? No more file-sharing by February. Good times.
