Cross sector trade body UK Music echoed a lot of what the BPI said. They were "cautiously optimistic" that the issue of file-sharing and its impact on the content industries had been given due importance in the report, but they too felt not enough had been proposed to meet this ambitious 70-80% cut in file-sharing.
Rather than waiting for Carter's "technical measures" in two years time, UK Music boss Feargal Sharkey is putting forward for discussion a five stage "graduated response" system that, he says, internet service providers should introduce sooner rather than later. I'm calling it the Feargal Five Way approach, and would like everyone to refer to the final sanction, a two month net suspension, as the file-sharer being "Feargaled", though it's possible I'm not taking this seriously enough.
Commenting on the 'Digital Britain' report, Sharkey told CMU: "We would like to see action now. Over the past twelve months, UK music companies have exceeded themselves in terms of innovation and experimentation, offering unprecedented access and choice to music fans. Yesterday's announcement by Virgin Media and Universal Music of their all-you-can-eat MP3 service comes on the back of free-to-consumer offerings from Spotify and We7 and the removal of digital rights management from the download market. There are more licensed download services in the UK than any country in Europe. I am certain there will be even more in the coming weeks, months and years".
He continued: "We are keen to begin the consultation process as soon as possible and to open a dialogue with industry partners. As part of this conversation and to set the ball rolling, UK Music has today proposed a series of proportionate measures, targeted specifically towards persistent file sharers, which we believe would help take forward the debate even further. The express aim of these measures is to encourage them to migrate toward licensed music services".
The Feargal Five Way approach is as follows:
- Warning notice. The ISP will send a letter to the account holder illegally file sharing copyright material.
- Interactive Notification & Web Redirection. The ISP will redirect the account's web browser to a website which will require the account holder to identify themselves and their responsibility for the account.
- Should an ISP receive evidence of illegal file sharing on an account for a third occasion, it will send a notification to the account holder that their internet service will be immediately suspended for 72 hours.
- If there's evidence of illegal file sharing on an account on a fourth occasion, the ISP will send a notification to the account holder that their internet service will be immediately suspended for one month.
- With evidence of illegal file sharing for a fifth occasion, the ISP will suspend the account for a period of two months and that a further two month suspension will be implemented if a further infringement occurs.
It remains to be seen what the ISPs make of that proposal. I reckon they might go for the first two (well, they're already doing the first) - though I'm not sure what the technical implications of the second proposal would be.