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The Publishers Association has said it "welcomes with open arms" the proposals to punish persistent illegal file sharers with internet suspension, to which Lord Mandelson gave his backing this week. Mandelson has put forward a three strikes policy for the suspension of internet access, stressing it would be a "fair, thorough process, involving clear warnings" and only used as "a last resort".
Benjamin King, head of policy and communication at the PA, said there had been no "major" surprises with the statement, which was broadly in line with announcements made by the government in August. "On the file sharing side it is a good result - clearly Lord Mandelson has grasped the importance of copyright enforcement to the creative industries," King said. "He has been saying very positive things along those lines for the last few months, and we welcome with open arms yesterday's announcement.
"As an industry, we are not out of the woods yet - we don't know, for example, the extent to which the Conservatives will take these proposals forward if we find ourselves under a Conservative government. But it does set the tone for the longer-term copyright agenda."
However, King warned that other suggestions made in yesterday's announcement - notably to open up access to orphan works and making it legal to share files with close friends of family - would need to be "thoroughly thought through... because there is a very real danger that the industry could become compromised [by such a move]".
He added: "It's not unreasonable on the face of it, but it depends how it is drawn - if it is overly broad, it could have unintended consequences." Regarding the opening up of orphan works, which he said the PA "whole-heartedly supported", King recommended limiting the ability to issue licences to collecting societies rather than commercial organisations.