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Lord Mandelson has confirmed that persistent file-sharers could have their broadband accounts suspended as part of the government's plan to curb online piracy. But the business secretary also said there was "a case" for modernising copyright laws, to reflect "reasonable" consumer behaviour, such as sharing files with family members "without acting unlawfully".
Mandelson added that the government intended to legislate in order to enable schemes for dealing with orphan works to be set up on a regulated basis. In a separate document, entitled, The Way Ahead arising out of its earlier Digital Britain report, the government said it would seek to allow cultural institutions and others including commercial businesses to unlock large numbers of works that currently cannot be used.
The government said it would act to manage organisations licensed to set up extended collective licensing and orphan works schemes. It added: "Subject to the government obtaining the enabling powers to license the use of orphan works and extended collective schemes, the detail of these provisions will be developed through extensive consultation and enacted in secondary legislation."
As the UK copyright framework is part of a harmonised European system the scope for significant independent national level legislative changes was "limited". But it added that swift action meant "seeking solutions which do not rely at the outset on concerted international legislation".
The suspension of service, first mooted as part of the Digital Britain consultation, will be introduced only if a year-long campaign of letter writing, backed by the threat of legal action by content owners, fails to reduce online piracy by about 70%.
Mandelson said: "It's clear that whilst unlawful file-sharing excites a strong response from all sides, it is not a victimless act. It is a genuine threat to our creative industries. The creative sector has faced challenges to protected formats before. But the threat faced today from online infringement, particularly unlawful file-sharing, is of a different scale altogether. We cannot sit back and do nothing."
He added it would be a "fair, thorough process, involving clear warnings", and would use the suspension as only "a very last resort". He added: "Only persistent rule breakers would be affected - and there would be an independent, clear and easy appeals process to ensure that the correct infringer is penalised."
Mandelson said there was "a case" for modernising copyright laws to allow some shareing of files. This could have implications for digital rights management, which prevents consumers from moving digital files from one device to another. This was based on a review of copyright in the UK, which recommended simplifying European content rights and changing "almost universally ignored" rules that songs cannot be moved from a computer on to an MP3 player.
David Lammy, minister for education and intellectual property, who headed the review, said: "I want people to have the freedom to enjoy music, books and film in creative ways, without fear of breaking the law. This is not an excuse to infringe copyright through unlawful file-sharing, but is about being able to do more with legally obtained content."
The anti-piracy measures are to be included in next month's digital economy bill, but they are not likely to be implemented until spring 2011, by which time a different government could be in place.
Broadband providers and rights holders will "share the costs" of anti-piracy measures, Lord Mandelson said. Rights holders will have to pay a flat fee per notification of an individual spotted file-sharing. People accused of file-sharing will be able to make three appeals before having their broadband cut off.