Oi
Resumo de uma notícia do “Daily Telegraph”:
… ministros britânicos estão considerando a possibilidade de cobrar impostos sobre conexões banda larga de Internet para “compensar” os distribuidores de cópias de bens culturais (estúdios e gravadoras) por supostos downloads ilegais na Internet …
Que tal?
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Ministers consider ‘broadband tax’
Households could face higher broadband bills to pay for the cost of illegal downloads from the internet, under plans being considered by ministers.
By Andrew Porter, Political Editor
Last Updated: 6:58PM GMT 23 Jan 2009
In a major report to be released next week a new agency will be set up to look at how the issue of online “piracy” should be tackled.
One proposal being studied is imposing a universal levy on broadband bills to compensate film and music companies for their losses from illegal downloads. Most broadband packages cost around £15 a month.
The plan is being considered by Lord Carter, the Communications Minister, who is to unveil his new report setting out his vision for Digital Britain.
The entertainment industry – which has lobbied for the fee to be introduced – estimates it will lose £1 billion over the next five years due to piracy.
Lord Carter is known to be sympathetic to the proposals, but according to industry sources (MUST KEEP), he will stop short of explicitly backing the plan for fear of slowing his drive for universal broadband across the country by 2012.
However, he will order the setting up the new “Rights Agency” to find a long term solution to the problem.
The new body will be made up of the music and film industry, as well as consumer groups and the internet service providers (ISPs). Consumer groups will strongly resist the prospect of higher broadband prices.
It is estimated there are more than six million illegal filesharers in Britain and most are under 24. Several inititatives have been launched to tackle the problem.
Last year a scheme was announced which saw parents of teenagers who download music illegally targeted by Britain’s six largest ISPs including BT, Virgin Media and Orange.
The firms agreed to write to hundreds of thousands of customers whose accounts were being used to download or share pirated songs.
Many of the customers receiving letters were unsuspecting parents of a generation of children who, thanks to illegal filesharing services, have come to see music as a free commodity.
Three years ago the BPI (formerly known as the British Phonographic Industry) won a landmark ruling which meant two fathers had to pay more than £1,000 each for their children’s illegal downloads, even though they claimed they had no idea what the youngsters were doing.
The industry has been urging ministers to act to stop file transfers of film and music being downloaded illegally from unauthorised websites, some of which are offshore.
Attempts to tackle the problem have largely failed, the report is expected to say. It will point to the lacklustre nature of a pilot scheme in which ISPs were told to order websites using its platform to sell illegal downloads to stop cease their activities.
As a result Lord Carter will say that internet service providers will have to pass on a customer’s information if there is legal action against pirates. However, the ISPs will not be liable for what they have done.
A report this week disclosed that the digital music industry is now worth £2.5 billion after growing by an estimated 25 per cent in 2008. However illegal file-sharing accounted for 95 per cent of all downloads last year.
The industry is likely to back the new plans, but they fear they do not go far enough. They want a premium added to the broadband packages which would then be distributed to the industry to cover the losses.
One industry insider said: “We know that Lord Carter is sympathetic, but he is also very keen not to jeopardise his stated aim of ensuring every household in Britain has broadband.”
That objective will be central to his report. He believes that the country is at a “turning point” and now needs to fully embrace the broadband revolution.
He is expected to call for universal access in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The BPI, the voice of the British music industry, claims that the sector lost £180 million to online music piracy in 2008.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimates over 40 billion files were illegally file-shared in 2008.
Lord Carter’s report is also expected to conclude that Channel 4 should not be given extra money “top sliced” from the BBC licence fee. In rejecting that idea the Communications Minister is likely to open the way for the broadcaster to look at a link up with the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, or Channel Five.
Retirado de http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/4325892/Ministers-consider-broadband-tax.html
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