The French Government has attempted to create a 'three strikes
and you're out' law but has
been thwarted by parliament. The plan, which is promoted by
rights-holding content industries such as the record and film
businesses, involves internet subscribers receiving two warnings
about illegal file-sharing activity and then being cut off from the
internet.
The UK Government has previously threatened the internet service
provider (ISP) industry with such a law. Then-IP minister Lord
Triesman said in early 2008 that the Government would pass
legislation if ISPs and content owners could not reach agreement by
autumn.
A partial agreement was reached by autumn of last year that
stopped short of terminating subscribers' access and involved a
trial of 1,000 written warnings to suspected copyright
infringers.
Lammy has now told The Observer newspaper, though, that
disconnection is off the Government agenda.
"It is for the French to determine what is right for them," he
said of the three-strikes policy, "but for us here we do not
believe that would be the right road to go down."
In its Digital Britain report the Government recently proposed
the creation of a 'rights agency' to encourage compliance with
copyright laws. It has asked companies that produce copyrighted
material to contribute to a consultation on exactly what that
agency would be and how it would operate.
The Government said at the time that any anti-piracy legislation
would be affected by the industry's participation in the rights
agency.
"However clear the Government's commitment to tackling piracy we
cannot, through legislation, provide anything like the whole answer
to this complex area and the answer that we do find might prove to
be short lived, even counter-productive if we are forced to be
prescriptive, and that pushes infringement towards more difficult
to detect methods," said the Government's consultation.
Lammy told The Observer that there will be anti-piracy
legislation to back up the work of the rights agency, but that the
laws must not be too specific or exhaustive.
"In the end, the solutions are going to be commercial solutions.
They are going to be solutions that are about ensuring people pay
for content, but the ease of paying is there," he said.
Lammy said that solutions to the problem will also have to rely
on individuals knowing more about copyright and the world of
intellectual property becoming more accessible to people.
"Copyright has largely been the domain of lawyers and of
creatives, or professionals like teachers," he said. "We are moving
into an environment where so many people have to be aware of being
on the right side of the law, but at the moment accessing those
rights is not a straightforward process for the consumer."
Lammy spoke about exactly that problem on World IP Day last
week. Addressing IP professionals he said, according to a
Government copy of the speech, that "there are people missing from
this room. The man in the London street. The farmer in the
developing world. IP is still the resort of the professionals.
That’s what I want to change".
"I want to see greater public understanding of the [copyright]
system," he said. "I want to show the person in the street that the
system actually works in their interests. I want them to see it
helps keep them in work."
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