Japan's ISPs agree to ban piracy

Japan is set to severely clamp down on online piracy following an agreement between four of the largest internet service providers (ISPs) and copyright holders to target pirates.

Under the agreement the authorities are to adopt a stance similar to the 'three-strike' rule used in France, which would see trangressors warned about their illegal file sharing. Should they persist, their connections will be terminated.

Content owners such as record labels and film studios will send details of IP (Internet Protocol) addresses downloading their copyrighted content to the ISPs.

This method does not involve the contentious Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) which has been criticised by privacy campaigners. Instead content owners only need to scan popular file-sharing sites to find details of peers involved in file sharing.

Japan is considered one of the best-connected broadband nations on the planet with widespread 100Mbps services.

Elsewhere Sweden, home to one of the most notorious file-sharing sites, the Pirate Bay, looks set to force ISPs to make details of offenders available to content owners.

In a landmark case, the Swedish high court has paved the way for internet providers to hand out information on suspected cases of illegal downloading.

In Ireland, four music labels including EMI and Sony BMG are taking legal action against Eircom, the country's largest broadband provider, in a bid to stop its networks being used for the illegal downloading of music.

In the UK, the government is reviewing internet piracy and will push for regulation early next year unless content owners and ISPs can reach an agreement on illegal downloading.

www.thepiratebay.org
www.eircom.ie