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UK's "slow progress" on piracy laws attacked by the music industry

A music industry report has attacked the “slow progress” of the UK in tackling piracy. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) the delay in implementing the Digital Economy Act has meant that levels of piracy have remained high.

The report from IFPI has identified the difference anti-piracy laws have had in countries such as France where there has been a 26% drop in illegal downloads due to the introduction of anti-piracy legislation.

Under the previous Labour Government the Digital Economy Act 2010 was rushed through Parliament but implementation of the Act has been delayed due to a number of amendments.

The main provision of the act is to introduce a system of sending letters to illegal downloaders pointing out that their activities are illegal and advising on how to avoid breaching the rules. The letters would not demand payments or threaten disconnection.

Several Internet Service Providers including TalkTalk and BT have challenged the Act in court as they see the Act as unfairly compelling them to police their users.

The delay in implementing the Act has drawn much criticism from the music industry including the international president of Sony Music, Edgar Berger, who described the delay as “definitely disappointing”, and commenting that “the first notices are now planned to be out by 2013”

A spokesperson for the Department of Media, Culture and Sport stated that the Government would “continue to work with the industry” on tackling piracy. They added: “If you create a song, a film, a book, you have the right to charge people for that content. We will help people enforce that right.”

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