Ares Connect

Filesharing has once again hit the headlines after PRS for Music published a paper in which it announced it was calling for a controversial levy to be placed on broadband providers in the UK. This so called “piracy levy” will tax ISP’s based on the amount of illegal files downloaded through their networks.

PRS’s report, written by their chief economist, Will Page, plus David Touve from Washington and Lee University, claims to offer an economic framework which will provide an incentive to force the industries to act on illegal downloads. Their argument is that a piracy tax will help to align the financial interests of both parties.

The Digital Economy Act called for the measuring of peer-to-peer usage, but is proving difficult to put into place as the ISP’s and the rights holders are currently arguing over who should be responsible for the cost of illegal file sharing.

The technology is already in place to monitor filesharing traffic, so once the ISP’s and rights holders come to a workable agreement, it is only a matter of time before peer-to-peer networks are at risk and fines against users become standard. This money would either be paid to the state, or to the rights holders.

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