Eight UK creative organisations and five trade unions have
formed an alliance to demand that government force internet service
providers to ban users caught sharing content illegally.
The alliance is expected to tell government today that
persistent illegal file-sharers should be cut off from the net if
they ignore repeated warnings about illegal file sharing, according
to BBC
news.
Last year, BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone
Warehouse agreed to collaborate on a
voluntary code of practice on handling illegal
file-sharing.
But the alliance, which includes
British Phonographic Industry and the
Federation Against Copyright Theft, wants ISPs to take a more
active role than just education and awareness.
The coalition wants ISPs to monitor the online activities of
users and has issued recommendations they want included in the
government's
Digital Britain manifesto.
According to the alliance, 98 million films and more than one
billion music tracks were downloaded illegally in the UK in
2007.
It says more than six million people in the country regularly
file-share copyright content without permission, putting thousands
of jobs in the film, TV, music, and software sectors at risk.