Copyright Law

UK ?Three-Strikes? To Cost Consumers $800 Million p/yr

By Jared Moya

Means plan would unfairly require majority of population whom don’t file-share to pay for the failings of the entertainment industry.

A new report indicates that an “evolved” plan by UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, head of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and whom ultimately is tasked with implementing the recommendations for dealing with illegal file-sharing as outlined in the Digital Britain report, to disconnect accused copyright infringers from the Internet will cost UK consumers more than £500 million ($799.5 million USD) annually.

That means an individual “three-strikes” tax per broadband connection of approximately £25 ($40 USD) a year.

Several ISPs have voiced their opposition to the proposal so long as ISPs, and therefore consumers via higher priced subscription fees, are made to shoulder the costs while the entertainment industry reaps all the benefits.

?Broadband consumers shouldn?t have to bail out the music industry,” said Charles Dunstone, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, owner of Talk Talk, the UK’s largest consumer ISP. “If they really think it?s worth spending vast sums of money on these measures then they should be footing the bill; not the consumer.?

ISP BT added its own objections over what it sees as “collective punishment” for targeting only an IP address and not the actual individual responsible.

?Put yourself in the shoes of a small businessman who has a rogue member of staff,” said John Petter, managing director of BT Retail?s consumer division. ” Your internet access could get cut off because of the actions of one individual. It really feels like the UK is out on a limb with these proposals compared to the rest of the world.?

UK ISPs have blasted the proposal in the past since it requires that all broadband customers, the majority of which don’t file-share, to provide financial support for the entertainment industry’s failed business model and would discourage it from delivering new services that consumers actually want.

In defense the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) says the plan is in “everyone’s interest” and that the “overall benefits to the country far outweigh the costs.?

But, there is no real benefit to consumers being that the plan only forces the them to guarantee record label profits regardless of their ability to meet consumer demand. All it will do is try to create another “walled garden” scenario where record labels dictate what consumers can buy and at what price.

Moreover, file-sharers will still find a way to circumvent any anti-piracy technology they may conceive and result in no tangible decrease in illegal file-sharing.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).