BT Wholesale

INDUSTRY NEWS


29 May 2009

Millions downloading illegally


The number of people in Britain illegally downloading files from the internet has reached an all time high, according to new statistics.

Research by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) has suggested that upwards of seven million people are now involved in internet piracy and file sharing.

Faster broadband speeds was named as a key factor to the increased traffic in illegal file downloads, with users being able to receive 200 MP3 files in five minutes and a DVD in three minutes on a 50Mbps connection.

Intellectual property minister David Lammy said: "This is not an issue confined by national boundaries and I am sure that other [EU] member states and their copyright industries will find this report of use in the development of policy."

The SABIP report stated that the problem was now costing UK media companies £12 billion annually.

An alliance of eight leading media companies recently asked the government to disconnect users who illegally download files from the internet.<br/>

© 2006 Adfero Ltd.

MORE INDUSTRY NEWS

  • UPDATED 03/06/2009

    Make a date with Windows 7

    The long-awaited successor to Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system (OS) has been given an .....