Have Your Say on the UK File Sharing Policy

Right now, the most talked about topic in the UK is the one regarding file sharing and the agreement between the BPI, the Government and major ISPs to combat online piracy. No matter if you support the measures or if you simply feel strongly against them, it is important to make your opinion heard, and this is exactly why the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform has opened a public consultation.

"This consultation is intended to set out and gather views on a proposal for a co-regulatory approach that could be adopted in order to facilitate and ensure co-operation between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and rights holders to address the problem of illicit use of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing technology to exchange unlawful copies of copyright material. This takes forward Recommendation 39 of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property which addressed the issue of illicit use of P2P. The consultation also identifies and seeks views on other potential options and calls for evidence on issues related to illicit use of P2P," says BERR.

Anyone that has something to say in the matter can do so until the end of October - just make sure you specify in your response if you are speaking on behalf of yourself, as an individual, or on behalf of an organization. Responses can be sent to BERR by letter, fax or e-mail.

The solutions that the authorities have come up with so far are to send out letters to illegal file sharers, limit their Internet bandwidth, or to ban them from the web altogether. What the BERR wants to know is whether you consider online file sharing to be a significant threat to the entertainment industry, if the Internet service providers should enforce anti-piracy policies, and if you may have a better solution in mind. The thing is that, if you do have a proposal, then it must be "evidence based," and not just something off the top of your head.