UK govt partners with ISPs and creative industries for major anti-piracy scheme

The UK government has fronted £3.5 million (AU$5.9m) in funding for a consumer awareness program for online copyright infringement.

Founded by BPI (British Phonographic Industry), the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the four major Internet service providers (ISPs): BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, Creative Content UK will combat piracy through a multi-media awareness campaign and a succeeding subscriber alerts program that will see warning letters issued to copyright-infringing consumers.

According to Music Week, the campaign itself will be partly funded by the government and lead by content creators, the creative industries and major ISPs. The initiative has full backing from BBC, Equity, the Film Distributors’ Association, ITV, the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), the Musicians’ Union, Pact the Premier League, the Publishers Association and UK Music.

The launch of the campaign is slated for 2015, with full details still to be announced. However the founders have told media the subscriber alerts program will see participating ISPs alert infringing subscribers when unlawful file-sharing of entertainment has occurred and point them in the direction of a legitimate source.

Announced yesterday by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Culture Secretary Sajid Javid, the initiative marks the first time that creative associations, broadband providers and the Labour Party have teamed together in such a way.

Vince Cable, Business Secretary said: “[…] Education is at the heart of this drive so people understand that piracy isn’t a victimless crime – but actually causes business to fail, harms the industry and costs jobs.”

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI said: “It’s a wonderful time to be a music fan – you can listen to almost any song ever released, instantly, wherever you are. But not everyone is familiar with all the different ways to do this – whether for free or from a paid service – while at the same time making sure the artist is also fairly rewarded.”

Crispin Hunt, artist/producer and Co-CEO of the Featured Artist Coalition said: “Three million people have downloaded one of my tunes from a popular Pirate site. Each person thinks it can’t hurt and that one download won’t make a difference. But it really affects all musicians from big bands to underground DJ’s and it’s beginning to change the quality of music itself.”

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said the UK creative industries contribute £8 million (AU$13.6m) to the UK economy every hour. The creative sector in the UK is said to support approximately 1.68 million jobs.