-Digital Britain-

- DIGITAL BRITAIN -

Digital Britain: ISPs will have to cut filesharing by 70% under new proposals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/16/filesharing-digital-britain
• British ISPs will be required to cut illegal filesharing on their networks by 70% within a year under new powers set to be given to the communications regulator Ofcom.
• Persistent offenders could see their details passed on to rights-holders – mainly music and film companies, but also games and software companies – which could sue them in court.
• In extreme cases, such offenders could also see bans on access to certain sites, and a decrease of their internet speed and capacity.
• It could take some time for the proposals to be implemented. There will first be a consultation before it becomes law, after which Ofcom will have responsibility for reducing piracy.
• Some groups, such as UK Music, believe that this particular proposal will not achieve the desired reduction of 70%.


Landline users to pay £6 tax to fund broadband

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/16/digital-britain-landline-users-broadband-tax

• Fixed-line telephone users will pay £6 a year to fund superfast broadband across the country.
• A 50p a month tax on every copper telephone line will help pay for next-generation broadband for 90% of the population.
• The government wanted to break the BBC's monopoly on the licence fee and use the £200m that is leftover from the license fee to fund the next generation of broadband.
• The government wants everybody in Britain to have at least 2 megabytes of broadband by 2012.
• A fraction of the license fee digital switchover surplus would fund three ITV regional news pilots in Scotland, Wales and one English region between now and 2013.


Digital Britain winners and losers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/jun/16/digital-britain-winners-losers

• A big loser of the Digital Britain report is the PBS, the BBC.
• The Government is planning to use money that was originally used for the BBC and divert some of the money towards other things such as Broadband and other television networks.
• Ofcom has gained significantly from the digital Britiain report, every two years they’ll be reviewing the whole communications industry, regulating file-sharing and regulating mergers.
• This brings Ofcom in a powerful position in having more authority than the BBC and everyone else.
• Local news organisations will also benefit from the government , an idea that has proved controversial in some quarters – largely local newspaper groups that have benefited from margins for many years and now see no way out but even more mergers – but the funds will be there if they are willing to take them.