By: MarkJ - 9 December, 2009 (9:11 AM) - Score: 3445 - Fixed Line Broadband, Piracy

The famous UK singer songwriter and board member of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), Billy Bragg, has come out strongly against new proposals in the recent Digital Economy Bill, which threaten to disconnect illegal p2p music file sharers from their broadband ISPs.

Concerns over hefty ISP costs, the impact upon public and office networks (i.e. public Wi-Fi Hotspots being closed due to anonymous users abusing them for illegal downloads), unreliable source evidence, an ineffective appeals process and the criminalisation of a generation are just some of the wider fears.


Thankfully FREE streaming services like Spotify make it easy to find the track you want and thus the whole buying process more flexible, though many still balk at being asked to stump up 69p for a new track that only lasts for around 3 minutes. Some prices do go down, digital distribution is improving, but others stay high for far too long.

However the UK music industry at least seems to be doing pretty well and perhaps more attention should be given to developing new economic and distribution channels for movies, games and computer software in general. Not everybody wants to visit the cinema to view a new film release; most modern HD home solutions can now offer a better experience.

Meanwhile ISPs will be mandated to start sending out warning letters from April next year and if piracy has not reduced by 70% after 12 months of that then expect the controversial disconnections policy and other technical measures (speed reductions, blocked p2p sites etc.) to follow.