UK ISPs Tackle File Sharing

Six big UK ISPs have signed up to a government plan to tackle illegal file-sharing — and develop legal music services.

According to the BBC, six of Britain’s biggest ISPs have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform aimed at eliminating illegal file-sharing.

The six, who will be named later today, will begin by sending letters to customers believed to be engaged in illegal file-sharing. But that’s only one step, and it’s believed that the companies have signed up to take further steps to eliminate the piracy. The Memorandum reportedly also commits the ISPs to developing legal music download services.

To date, BT and Virgin Media have sent letters to customers identified by music body BPI as illegal file-sharers, and the BPI has called for persistent offenders to lose Internet access under a “three strikes” rule, although most ISPs oppose that action.