No Real Change Suggested In Digital Britain Report

An interim Digital Britain report issued today by the UK's Department Of Culture, Media & Sport promises tougher action to stop illegal file sharers, but stops short of wholesale change. ISPs will be required to notify offenders, but must wait for a court order before sharing the infringer's personal information with rights holders. According the official report:

"Our response to the consultation on peer-to-peer file sharing sets out our intention to legislate, requiring ISPs to notify alleged infringers of rights (subject to reasonable levels of proof from rights-holders) that their conduct is unlawful. We also intend to require ISPs to collect anonymised information on serious repeat infringers (derived from their notification activities), to be made available to rights-holders together with personal details on receipt of a court order. We intend to consult on this approach shortly, setting out our proposals in detail."