Ares Connect

Three strikes and you’re out. It’s a concept from the US that has made its way to British shores in the form of a new law that is likely to scare many filesharers. The law states that a user can be placed on an ISPs filesharing blacklist (in fact the ISPs are required to place filesharers on the blacklist) if they are accused of filesharing. Three strikes, and the publishers (or artists, or whomever) can go to the courts to request the details of these users. From there they may choose to file a legal challenge.

Accusations of filesharing will cause a warning letter to be sent to the user in question. Ofcom – the regulatory body responsible for this mess – hopes that these warning letters will significantly reduce infringements across the board. It certainly will scare a lot of people into quick submission.

Understandably the ISPs are not very happy about all this since it means a lot of extra work for them. It’s also something of a contradiction to whatever data protection laws, rules or promises that they hold themselves accountable to. Whether there will be any legal wrangles to test this new law remains to be seen.

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