Piracy moves 'could breach rights'

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Broadband providers and consumer rights groups warned "persuasion not coercion" was the key to tackling piracy, and said further education was needed.

But Stephen Timms, minister for Digital Britain, said the previous proposals, which only went as far as restricting users' broadband speed "could delay action".

Instead he said "swifter and more flexible measures" were needed to tackle illegal file-sharing.

The total loss to the whole audio visual industry through copyright theft, including file sharing, home burning and borrowing other people's fake DVDs was £486 million in 2007, an IPSOS survey found, and around 6.5 million Britons downloaded music and films illegally within the 12 months up to July last year. Estimates last summer suggested the practice would cost the recording industry alone up to £1 billion within five years.

The latest proposals include giving power to ministers to direct Ofcom to introduce technical measures to clamp down on piracy, which could involve an obligation on internet service providers (ISPs) to take action against individual, repeat infringers, a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said.

"The Government is also considering adding account suspension to the list of technical measures that could be used only as a last resort against the hard core of copyright pirates," the spokesman said.

BT, one of the six major ISPs in the UK, said it was "disappointed" by the changes.

"We were broadly supportive of the original plans but these changes run the risk of penalising customers unfairly," a spokesman said. "We believe the creative industries need to play a larger role in tackling copyright infringement and so we will be making our views known to the Government."

Virgin Media, another key ISP, said it shared the Government's commitment to tackling piracy, but warned that "persuasion not coercion" was the key. A spokeswoman said: "The Government should be ensuring a balance of action against repeat infringers and the rapid development of new legitimate services that provide a compelling alternative to illegal file-sharing."