Business Secretary Peter Mandelson is looking to take his campaign against file sharers even further by changing copyright law.
According to reports, Mandelson wrote a letter to house leader Harriet Harman, asking to change the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act in order to take on illegal file sharing.
The change would simply be an amendment to the act, which would happen much more quickly than passing the Digital Economy Bill. Published today, that bill looks to cut off the broadband connects of persistent pirates.
The tweak to the Copyright Act would give "any person as may be specified" the power to take action on online infringement.
According to a report in the Guardian, Mandelson is worried about what he calls "cyberlockers" - essentially online storage services.
"These can be used entirely legitimately, but recently rights holders have pointed to them as being used for illegal use," Mandelson reportedly wrote in the letter.
While he admits, consumers won't like the plan, Mandelson wrote: "I expect rights holders to welcome this and to support it. ISPs are likely to be neutral until it is clear what effect it will have on them in terms of costs."
Many ISPs are already angry about the plans in the Digital Economy Bill, which would see them forced to cut off file sharers. Rights groups have long argued against the disconnection plans since they were announced.
The plans were slammed by well-known blogger Cory Doctorow, who wrote: "This is as bad as I've ever seen, folks. It's a declaration of war by the entertainment industry and their captured regulators against the principles of free speech, privacy, freedom of assembly, the presumption of innocence, and competition."
He added: "This proposal creates the office of Pirate-Finder General, with unlimited power to appoint militias who are above the law, who can pry into every corner of your life, who can disconnect you from your family, job, education and government, who can fine you or put you in jail."
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
The UK cybersecurity sector is worth over £13 billion, but experts say there’s huge untapped potential if it can overcome these hurdlesAnalysis A new report released by the DSIT revealed the UK’s cybersecurity sector generated £13.2 billion over the last year
-
"Thinly spread": Questions raised over UK government’s latest cyber funding schemeThe funding will go towards bolstering cyber skills, though some industry experts have questioned the size of the price tag
-
Threat of cyber attacks to national security compared to that of chemical weaponsNews The UK government has raised the threat level posed by cyber attacks, deeming it greater on average than an event such as the Salisbury poisoning
-
2022 Public Sector Identity Index ReportWhitepaper UK Report
-
UK and Japan strike digital partnership to collaborate on IoT security, semiconductorsNews The two countries are also set to align their approaches to digital regulation to make it easier for companies to operate in each nation
-
Defra's legacy software problem 'threatens' UK gov cyber security until 2030News The department spends over two-thirds of its digital budget on maintaining the risky applications, with no plan in place for a fix within the decade
-
Netherlands urges citizens to prepare survival kits in case hackers target critical infrastructureNews The latest campaign from the national coordinator for security echoes the growing concern in the UK government over serious cyber attacks
-
35 cyber startups join largest UK government-backed acceleratorNews The startups will benefit from business masterclasses, mentoring and engineering support, and technical product development support
