Report from the ISP Future Content Models and Enforcment Strategies Summit 2008, Kensington, London 7/8 July 2008

In light of today's announcement by the UK government, the words of Kiaron Whitehead, legal counsel for the BPI, are ringing a very sombre tone. Speaking at the ISP Future Content Models conference, just 2 weeks ago, he outlined a 3 strikes proposal, and made it clear that the BPI is prepared to sue ISPs who don't comply. His words certainly put a different complexion on the word 'voluntary' - it is about as 'voluntary' as the press gangs that a couple of centuries ago found ' recruits' for the army.

Here are some excerpts from his presentation:

'ISPs have an obligation to work with us. The government must help facilitate that process.'

'The debate is no longer about whether something should be done, but how it should be done'

'ISPs have a legal responsbility to enforce... first an educational letter, second temporary suspension, third cancel the account. Ultimately, it may be possible to implement a technical solution. ISPs need to test implementing that technical solution. For ISPs who refuse, we are left with one option - litigation.'

'The government will assist us in one, talking; and two, putting in place legislation to ensure that ISPs are clear as to their responsibilities.'

'Evidence (against users who are alleged to have infringed copyright) has to stand up to rigorous testing. The BPI evidence collection is robust'.

Being literally woken up this morning to hear the radio saying 'music industry' and 'letters' and 'agreement' didn't feel like a good start to the day. The British music industry has co-erced a number of ISPs - current information suggests 6 of them - into the first stages of a 3 strikes programme. Details are still emerging, but it seems that the ISPs have agreed to send out a certain number of letters per week - perhaps a thousand per ISP per week - which could be hundreds of thousands a year. It isn't clear whether these are emails or letters through the post. But irrespective of how they are sent, it is clear that this is a mass-scale move by the BPI to punish file-sharers. And it is being done as a move to get around current European law, which prevents the government from legislating.

The ISPs who agreed to this deal should be ashamed of caving in to such a proposal which represents an infringement of civil liberties, and is part of a wider European agenda by the music and film industries to get them to police the Internet, monitoring users and blocking access to content, to support copyright.

The deal was brokered by Baroness Shriti Vadera, the former banker who is...

'Broadband settlement' being negotiated behind closed doors

Talks between the British music industry and the ISPs to resolve the P2P / free downloads logjam have been going on secretly for the past 2-3 weeks, it emerged today. It is not clear exactly what kind of deal is anticipated, but it is believed that some kind of levy on ISP subscriptions is on the table, under the banner of a 'broadband settlement'. And there are indications that the British music industry is not going to push for French-style enforcement involving cutting off people's internet access. If that is the case - which remains to be seen, these talks could be positive.

The existence of the talks became evident at the Music Publishers Association AGM in London today, where management of the composers and authors collecting societies and music publishers gathered to review the financial performance of this sector of the industry for 2007. They appear to have begun about 2-3 weeks ago, and were presented as a change of heart by the ISP industry, that it is now willing to talk. A timeframe of the next 3-4 weeks to reach a conclusion has been suggested, but not confirmed.

Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, confirmed that the talks are happening, but refused

The UK government has told the Internet industry to come to an agreement with media companies over how to deal with filesharing. This has prompted some debate in the technology media, as to the rights and wrongs of ISPs being told to police their networks (but sadly little debate outside the technology pages).

Read The Guardian's account here.

Read The Register's incisive and different viewpoint here.

And Silicon.com's view is here.