Creative alliance calls for pirate sanctions

A move to bar regular file-sharers from the web being promoted by an alliance of British entertainment organisations has been disputed by the Internet Service Providers Association.

The alliance, made up of representatives from the Federation Against Copyright Theft, the Publishers' Association, the UK Film Council, BPI and actor's union Equity, will ask Lord Carter to implement tougher sanctions on file-sharers.

The alliance wants Lord Carter, who publishes the Digital Britain report next month, to implement a three-strike policy to stem the flood of online piracy.

Under this controversial system, persistent file-sharers would receive up to three warnings before being kicked off the web by their ISPs.

However, ISPA said that while they will continue to work with the government and creative industries to tackle file-sharing, it's not simply a matter of barring persistent file-sharers.

ISPA said that significant technological advances [to track and monitor file-sharers] would be required where they would be admissible as evidence in court.

Last year Virgin sent a letter to households warning customers not to download music illegally.

John Woodward, head of the UK Film Council, said illegal file-sharing was hurting film-making and risking jobs.

Mr Woodward said: "The growing threat of illegal P2P (peer-to-peer) file-sharing threatens the creative industries, as films go unmade, DVD sales deteriorate and jobs are lost in production and distribution of content."