Hefty jail terms for pirates

The long-awaited Gowers report was finally made public today, containing proposals for far heavier sentences for infringements of copyright laws.

Former newspaper editor Andrew Gowers had been commissioned by the government to examine existing copyright laws with a view to bringing them into the digital era. One proposal was that people guilty of violating the laws should face up to 10 years in prison.

The report was of key importance to today's pre-budget speech by Chancellor Gordon Brown, who welcomed the proposals and announced that the Trading Standards Office would be receiving an extra £5m to help track down and prosecute pirates.

However, the report said that private users should be able to copy music from CDs to their own MP3 players. This proposal was welcomed by consumer groups.

"Plans to allow people to copy CDs for personal use from 2008 – which is illegal at the moment – is a welcome recognition of the need to improve consumers’ rights," said Jill Johnstone, Director of Policy at the National Consumer Council.

The Open Rights Group (ORG) expressed concern that a distinction must be made between people who flout the law for their own financial gain and those who are guilty of minor infringents of copyright regulations.

"We are concerned, however, that the report is recommending stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights without distinguishing between large-scale commercial and small-scale non-commercial infringement," said Suw Charman, executive director of the ORG.

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/
http://www.ncc.org.uk/

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