The UK government intends a major crack down on digital piracy in order to save millions of pounds.
The problem is serious. Unlawful access to digital content is estimated by the owners of the relevant copyright and other intellectual property rights (rights owners) to have cost £180 million for the UK music industry in 2008 and £152 million for the UK’s TV and film industry in 2007. There are no figures for games but it is assumed losses are of at least a similar scale.
The “Digital Britain” White Paper published in the UK in June includes proposals to combat digital piracy consisting of the illicit use of Peer-to Peer (P2P) file-sharing. The government’s aim is to achieve a 70-80per cent reduction in this form of piracy.
Other countries have suggested different solutions, most notably the “three Strikes and you’re out” approach favoured by France and Ireland, although in both cases these solutions have run into difficulty.
Read the full article here: Avoiding the digital dither