Ministers admit to half a million pound to tackle online piracy

Ministers have recently admitted that it is going to take half a million pounds to tackle online piracy, and this is a bill that broadband users will have to foot.

The measures that are being put into place to tackle online piracy have already caused a great deal of controversy, but this week there is likely to be even more uproar over the plans after ministers admitted that the bill to tackle online piracy is going to come to around half a million pounds and that broadband users are the ones that will end up footing this bill.

According to reports Internet service providers will be forced to send warning letters to those found to be illegally downloading content as part of the Digital Economy Bill. They would also be forced to slow down or suspend the service of those that are found to be engaging in illegal file sharing, and Internet service providers have said that the costs involved with all these measures will mean that twenty five pounds a year will be added onto the cost of a broadband subscription.

Internet providers have said that the content industries, which are mainly the entertainment industries that own the content that is being illegally downloaded, need to contribute towards the cost of implementing the measures to ensure that the impact on broadband users is not too harsh.

An official from Talk Talk said that it was not the responsibility of the average broadband customer to bail out the entertainment and music industry, stating: “Broadband consumers shouldn’t have to bail out the music industry. If they really think it’s worth spending vast sums of money on these measures then they should be footing the bill; not the consumer.”

Source – Times Online