It was 2008 when the UK government originally proposed disconnecting pirates from the Internet, then a few months later Australia followed suit.

The latest is that it’s really going to be legislated and will come into force by April 2010 under the Digital Economy Bill.

I’ve noticed this trend picking up lately, a few companies are adopting this strategy or at least discussing it. First hit – warning, second hit – suspension then finally third hit is permanent disconnection and possible blacklisting.

Illegal file-sharers could be booted off the internet by summer 2011, says Lord Mandelson. The Business Secretary, who has been charged with ironing out the UK’s plans to tackle internet piracy, revealed that disconnecting repeat offenders will be a last resort.

Mandelson told the government’s Digital Creative Industries Conference that the “consequence-free” days of illegal file-sharing are over, and that a “legislate and enforce” strategy had been identified as the best way to tackle the problem. “Three strikes is a reasonable way of describing our approach,” he said.

The legislation, which will see those caught illegally downloading sent warning letters, will be officially set out in the Digital Economy Bill that is expected next month and will come into force in April 2010. “Technical measures will be a last resort and I have no expectation of mass suspensions resulting.”

I don’t see what the big deal is really, just use encrypted protocols or sign up to a VPN package and use another country that’s no so big on stamping down on piracy.

A lot of people use VPNs here in US or UK simply because BitTorrent traffic is throttled, it’s a small price to pay.

The same measures could be used to avoid any ISP snooping and get your downloads in peace. The whole Torrent scene has become a bit of a mess lately and it’s a hotpot of bogus files and tracked downloads.

Even with something like PeerGuardian you aren’t totally safe.

Repeat offenders will be issued with a second letter. If this fails to stop them illegally downloading, they will be put on a “serious infringers list”, with ISPs expected to “exercise technical measures”.

Mandelson also said that Ofcom will monitor the success of the warning letters in the first year and if illegal file-sharing has not reduced by 70 percent then suspending net connections will be brought into force.

“The threat for persistent individuals is, and has to be, real, or no effective deterrent to breaking the law will be in place,” he added.

Mandelson also said a “proper route of appeal” would be available for those suspended from the web. Once notified of possible suspension, offenders will be given 20 working days to appeal to an independent body, although Ofcom has yet to appoint the body. Mandelson said the suspension would not come into force until the appeal has been heard.

It’s interesting as well that they aren’t going hardcore right off the bat, they are still giving people a chance. If piracy reduces by 70% after the initial measures are put in place no-one will get disconnected.

Does that mean 30% of people can still download copyright content without any repercussions?

I’ll be watching the implementation anyway to see what kind of effect it has, I’d like to see the figures before and after 12 months and of course the metrics for measurement.

Source: Network World

Ok more controversy for you guys, and once again it’s the UK leading a new initiative. This time it’s not against making hacking tools illegal, it’s against people downloading ‘pirated’ content from the Internet (using torrent sites etc.).

I do hope they can differentiate using torrents to download open source software or creative commons music and videos from the real copyrighted material. They will be basically terminating any Internet suspected of breaching copyright through file-sharing. ISP’s who fail to integrate the initiative will be liable to legal action.

It’ll be a three-strike and out system, first instance a warning, second a suspension and third finally termination.

People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering. A draft consultation suggests internet service providers would be required to take action over users who access pirated material via their accounts.

But the government is stressing that plans are at an early stage and it is still working on final proposals.Six million people a year are estimated to download files illegally in the UK.

“The content and proposals for the strategy have been significantly developed since then and a comprehensive plan to bolster the UK’s creative industries will be published shortly,” it added.

It’s pretty worrying I think, is the UK becoming a new homeground for RIAA and MPAA? Much like the US, land of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). I think intellectual property and copyright should be taken seriously..

But perhaps they should look at the quality of music and movies the ‘entertainment’ industry is producing, the amount they are charging and do a bit of introspection. If a movie is really good people WILL go to the cinema. If an album is good (not 2 good songs and 11 fillers) they will buy the original.

The BPI, the trade body that represents the UK record industry, said internet providers had “done little or nothing to address illegal downloading via their networks”.

“This is the number one issue for the creative industries in the digital age, and the government’s willingness to tackle it should be applauded,” said BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor.

“Now is not the time for ISPs to hide behind bogus privacy arguments, or claim the problem is too complicated or difficult to tackle.”

I’m sorry but how is the ISP going to do packet inspection for every single packet traversing it’s network, then do some kind of hash check on a bunch of combined packets in a stream (only when it’s not encrypted of course) to verify it is copyright content. You can go dropping people from their ISP because they are downloading the latest version of Ubuntu using a torrent.

Source: BBC News

Well I would say this was true for office workers everywhere, not particularly just Brits.

But well the British are an inquisitive nation, so this doesn’t surprise me at all.

Nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of UK employees admit to having illegally accessed sensitive data such as salary details from their firms employer’s IT systems. More than half (54 per cent) of 2,200 adults polled during a YouGov survey said they’d forgo any scruples to do the same, given half a chance, according to a Microsoft sponsored survey that points to a culture of internal snooping and casual identity theft in offices across Britain.

Survey respondents said that HR and payroll information was the most popular target (36 per cent), followed by their manager’s personal notes (28 per cent) and their colleagues’ data (25 per cent). Given the chance, six per cent said they would pinch a colleague’s password.

Unsuprisingly also, guys are the bigger portion of the snoopers.

Blokes expressed a greater willingness than their female counterparts to risk dismissal by stealing confidential data. More than a quarter (27 per cent) of blokes said they’d swiped confidential information compared to 16 per cent of women. Workers in London and Scotland (25 per cent) were the most likely to offend, with the most honest workers living in the Midlands (18 per cent).

People would also be willing to access files from previous employers, if they still could.

A third (33 per cent) of respondents said they’d be prepared to access confidential files from previous employers if they still had access. Microsoft, which sponsored the research, said the YouGov survey illustrated the importance of controlling users accounts on IT systems while ensuring that there is a process in place to disable accounts once workers move onto other jobs

What is the moral here?

Make sure proper privelege segregation is in place, file share access controls, granual ACLs..

And have a proper hire and fire process for adding/disabling/deleting accounts.

The last thing you want is rogue accounts hanging around that give ex-employees (especially disgruntled ones) access to anything on your network.

Source: The Register

The RIAA’s latest tactic, is to reveal to Santangelo and her new lawyer that they’ve been investigating her children, and have been able to collect a lot of non-public information. The RIAA will probably claim that the info is related to the case, but it certainly borders on using scare tactics, and trying to intimidate Santangelo into backing down.

The Big Four record labels are escalating their attack on Patti Santangelo, the New York mother who’s so far the only person to stand up to them.

And they’ll be using her children as weapons against her.

On Tuesday judge Mark D. Fox presided over a discovery hearing in Elektra v Santangelo and, “Elektra’s attorneys have answered Patti’s objections to their discovery questions,” her lawyer, Jordan Glass, told p2pnet.

“They’ve started to push back aggressively. They’re going after her children – and this time not directly so they can get around certain protections the children have. They had information about the children that wasn’t public, or wasn’t supposed to be public, and it’s of great concern not only that that they were able to obtain it, but also that they wanted it.

“They’re not treating this as a single case or as seeking a verdict for $3,500.00. They’re treating this as a symbol for how the other cases will go and I hope everyone who reads this will recognize the serious impact this case could have on their children.”

The RIAA has spent enough to feed a small country on trying to make the world believe it’s owners, the multi-billion-dollar Big Four labels, are being “devastated” (their word) by people who share music online, that contracted artists are suffering and that support workers are being driven into extreme financial hardship.

They make the completely unsupportable assertion that people using the p2p networks to share files would otherwise have paid $1 or more to buy the song from an online corporate music site or an offline music store.

Source: p2pnet