BSkyB ( Sky Broadband ) has just become the first ISP to officially come out in support of the governments highly controversial Digital Economy Act. The Act could see innocent internet users being threatened with disconnection, the potentially unfair blocking of websites and it would also make setting up and running an open / public wireless ( Wi-Fi ) network very unattractive.However Sky's Chief Executive, Jeremy Darroch, does not agree with the concerns raised by other ISPs and consumer groups. Of course nobody should be surprised by this, especially given Sky's content business and its connection to the media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Sky's CEO, Jeremy Darroch, told the Mip TV conference in Cannes:
"We need to see online piracy for what it is: theft, pure and simple. It is often thought of as a victimless crime, but that couldn't be further from the truth. If we allow piracy to weaken the business case for content investment, it will ultimately hurt the interests of creators, distributors and consumers of content.
As a content owner and an ISP we can see the problem from both sides. It seemed immediately obvious to us that rights owners and ISP's have to work together to explain the issue and deter those who seek to access digital content illegally.
Unfortunately in the UK not all ISPs were prepared to play ball, which is why, in the end, the government had to legislate. That law was passed by the UK parliament last week and - with the right commitment to make it work - it should make a big difference."
"We need to see online piracy for what it is: theft, pure and simple. It is often thought of as a victimless crime, but that couldn't be further from the truth. If we allow piracy to weaken the business case for content investment, it will ultimately hurt the interests of creators, distributors and consumers of content.
As a content owner and an ISP we can see the problem from both sides. It seemed immediately obvious to us that rights owners and ISP's have to work together to explain the issue and deter those who seek to access digital content illegally.
Unfortunately in the UK not all ISPs were prepared to play ball, which is why, in the end, the government had to legislate. That law was passed by the UK parliament last week and - with the right commitment to make it work - it should make a big difference."
That's quite a bit different from what the UK Internet Service Providers Association ( ISPA ), which BSkyB is an active member of, said late last week. The ISPA warned that the new ACT was "disproportionate, unworkable and will serve only to preserve failing business models and prevent new innovative lawful models of distributing content online."
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Comments: 13
timelessPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 9:55 AM
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being both an ISP and a content provider, l believe they are biased, after all lm sure they make more money from content than they do on the ISP side of things.
AbsentPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 10:08 AM
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Well they are owned by Rupert Murdoch and sell premium media content. I would be rather suprised if management of the broadband side weren't forced to support it regardless.
timelessPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 12:08 PM
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exactly... the little man always gets trampled by the one with the biggest wallet, that explains pretty much how all industry and government treat the public.
JamesPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 12:15 PM
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Yes, Rupert Murdoch probably helped draft the bill. He also wants to charge for news content which is also an unworkable opportunity. If they want to charge for news then good for them, but nobody is going to pay for it. The only news & information that is worth charging for is the financial and FT already do that. If News Corporation decide to charge access to their news, their online readership will fall drastically, especially with the majority of news coming out just being propaganda and press releases!
Watch this: Starsuckers - rue Stories presents a hilarious but shocking documentary about the celebrity obsessed media and how they feed our addiction to fame from BAFTA award winner Chris Atkins.
Its on 4oD, or via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=starsuckers (Featured result is the full movie).
That is a true representation of our media right now!
MarkJPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 12:28 PM
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Just a correction to the original news, BSkyB are members of the ISPA.
timelessPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 3:12 PM
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guess Sky are only a member in name, but not in opinion..
vmPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 4:16 PM
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sky and rupert murdoch is pure greedy and very selfish! I quit sky broadband for virgin media cable, i quit sky tv for humax foxsat freesat HDR with zero subscription!
I hate sky afterall and BT too.
Corruption StinksPosted: 15 April, 2010 - 9:05 PM
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Wait till we see them cutting of their own customers and laugh at how they are cutting down their own profit margin
SomeonePosted: 16 April, 2010 - 4:24 AM
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I feel you’re missing the most important part of the speech. Darroch said, “if you strip the value out of content to take a fatter margin elsewhere, you risk undermining the long-term future of quality content altogether.”
He doesn’t care if there’s revenue to be generated. He doesn’t care if it’s large amounts of revenue. If it’s not generated at the point where it’s traditionally been generated, he’s not interested.
Consumer ChoicePosted: 16 April, 2010 - 11:15 AM
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How any person or company can support a piece of legislation that was initially created by Lord Mandelson (twice resigned from office in disgrace, a number of yacht trips with Russian Oligarchs and media magnate Geffen), and clearly violates basic human rights and natural justice is beyond me.
The only thing this legislation will do is hold good honest law abiding citizens at ransom. If you are accused of illicit file sharing, you're as good as guilty. This will result in volume litigation becoming the "norm" here in the UK.
Goodbye Sky, hello TalkTalk (and http://www.yourprivatevpn.com)
. Also, join the BPI boycott and stop funding the companies behind such scams:http://bpiboycott.wordpress.com/
I'm also giving my vote to LibDems this year, I'm not going to give it to the parties who voted for this appalling ill conceived legislation.
im not called rupertPosted: 16 April, 2010 - 8:09 PM
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the isp's give us superfast broadband, the pc industry gives us 2TB hdd. wtf are we going to do with them now if we cant download, i mean c'mon just how many bloody photo's do YOU have???
Its a me MarioPosted: 16 April, 2010 - 8:46 PM
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Yeah next the economy will suffer because and an other ISP has closed down because people don't want to sign up to cyber-snoops :-D
HermesPosted: 17 April, 2010 - 12:13 PM
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Sky came out in support of this last October - it's hardly as if they've just come out to say it. They're only backing up previous statements.
http://www.thehermesproject.com/2009/10/sky-agrees-to-disconnect-pirates-says.html
H
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