Ofcom to introduce “three strikes” policy against file sharers in 2013

It didn’t take long for file sharing programs to become popular after the very first ones were released. Users quickly snatched up the software–and began moving on to downloading content other users were offering that were copyrighted. Music labels, software and application developers, and other entities who felt that their intellectual property was being infringed on weren’t too happy, so they set out to file suits against the people who wrote the software that allowed users to share files in the first place. The battle has gone on to produce mixed results, sometimes in favour of the file sharing programs, sometimes in favour of the other side. But it takes more than just file sharing programs to begin the cycle of copyright infringement: there’s also the file sharers.

A new communications act has been announced late last month, where Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will be required to block file sharing sites. The details on how to go about the block process were outlined by UK’s Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in a speech that was made on Royal Television Society. This move was probably to reinforce the Digital Economy Act that was passed in March of 2010, which is otherwise dubbed as the “anti-piracy law.” Many ISPs were not in agreement with some terms of the Act, with BT Broadband and TalkTalk challenging it in court.

But now it’s Ofcom’s turn to make a stand and reinforce the “three strikes” policy that it has already drawn up last year. The policy includes sending off notification letters to the file sharers, starting in the summer of 2013. These letters will contain the allegations that have been raised against them, most probably including a list of the files that the user has downloaded from file sharing sites or programs. The letters will also be sent off to people who may not be pirates themselves, but who have other users accessing their network to conduct such illegal activity. For the latter case, the letters will contain instructions on how to secure and safeguard their broadband connections to prevent others from using it for such purposes.

Under the Digital Economy Act, ISPs are required to monitor users who are suspected of engaging in web piracy or file sharing activities, so that the user’s details may be matched later on to the IP addresses that are linked to their network.

Ofcom’s initial obligations code indicates that the letters will contain “easy to understand information on the nature of the allegations made against the subscriber and on what actions a subscriber can take, both to challenge the allegation and to protect their network from being hijacked for the purposes of infringement.”

Ofcom has earlier explained their three-strike policy as follows: “We set out a three-stage notification process for informing subscribers of infringements through notifications and propose that subscribers, following receipt of a third notification, may be included in a copyright infringement list requested by a Copyright Owner. In short: if you get caught three times, your information, including IP address, the number of times an infringement has been logged and your name, will be shipped over to the companies you are stealing the music from.”