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Posted By: eddtheduck Online Piracy Is No Longer Illegal in the UK - 22nd Jul 2014 5:34pm
The British government has finally decriminalized online video game, music and movie piracy, a move that goes against other anti-piracy efforts within the UK.

According to the decision, starting in 2015, file sharers that keep downloading content from the Internet will be sent up to four letters of warning, explaining that their actions are, in fact, illegal. However, if the notes go ignored, nothing will happen.

The Creative Content UK is a result of a collaboration between British Internet providers, politicians and the movie and music industries. While the big providers such as BT, Virgin, Sky, and TalkTalk have already signed the agreement, but all the rest are expected to join in too.

The government pledged £3.5 million ($5.98 million/ €4.43 million) for the funding of the education awareness part of the campaign.

Basically, Creative Content UK is comprised of two components. One of them is the alert system and the letters sent to subscribers, as listed above, while the second is an awareness campaign led by content creators. The entire purpose of it all is to fight online copyright infringement through education.

The reasoning is that encouraging consumers and informing them about the copyright issues will help shape the future generation of Internet users.

“The Creative Sector is a key driver of the UK economy contributing £8m to the UK economy every hour and underpinning over 1.5m jobs. Copyright is the foundation on which the Creative industries stand and we must ensure it remains strong and continues to support the growth of the sector. The alert programme shows industry working together to develop solutions which support the long-term health of the UK's creative industries. It will play a central role in raising awareness of copyright and pointing people toward legal ways to access content and I welcome this effort,” said Saji Javid, Culture Secretary.

The Creative Content UK was founded by the Motion Picture Association, the British Recorded Music Industry, as well as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the latter being Internet providers. There’s also some backing from organizations across the creative community, including the BBC, Equity, Pact the Premier League, UK Music and more.

“This is just one piece of the overall approach to tackling illegal online infringement and promoting the importance of copyright. This will enable consumers to receive the best possible user experience and sustains the UK’s creative community and economy, incentivising the creation of new movies and other creative content,” said Chris Marcich, president and managing director EMEA of the Motion Picture Association

http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-UK-Decriminalized-Online-Piracy-451662.shtml
Better to lead with a carrot, than whack with a stick.
Posted By: j_demo Re: Online Piracy Is No Longer Illegal in the UK - 23rd Jul 2014 9:57am
See i have, in the past, torrented music online. Mainly artists i have had no experience of and wanted to listen to their album to see if its worth buying. 70% of the time i have gone out and bought the album if it was any good. The other 30% ive deleted the files. Either way i delete files after ive bought the album.

Artists are starting to embrace online freedom though. Radiohead not long ago released an album for free and just asked for donations. And John Mayer allows recording via the sound desk of all his live shows and releases them for free on his website. If people want something they'll always find a way to get it for as free as possible. So the govt is fighting a losing battle trying to prosecute everyone for piracy.

I for one very much welcome these measures, but i certainly wont be abusing them as i know others will.

Its almost like the drugs battle of the police, there's calls to legalise drugs to regulate them and put pressures on the dealers etc. Again i welcome them measures should they be introduced (i dont do drugs btw just support the option for legalisation to reduce crime etc)
http://torrentfreak.com/the-uk-did-not-just-decriminalize-file-sharing-140723/

Might be worth reading before buying those bigger hard drives wink
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