£20 broadband charge to fight online music and film piracy

by Maireid Sullivan | January 29, 2009 at 02:45 pm

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There goes poor old Britain, imposing more 'levies' on business at the beginning of the worst economic downturn in over a hundred years. This looks like a legal fraud scheme to me.

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An additional charge for broadband use will be proposed by ministers today as part of a plan to stamp out music and film piracy.

Lord Carter of Barnes, the Communications Minister, will propose the creation of a quango, paid for by a charge that could amount to £20 a year per broadband connection. The idea will be at the heart of the Digital Britain Green Paper to be unveiled by ministers, which includes plans to create jobs by boosting broadband take-up.

The agency would act as a broker between music and film companies and internet service providers (ISPs). It would provide data about serial copyright-breakers to music and film companies if they obtained a court order. It would be paid for by a levy on ISPs, who inevitably would pass the cost on to consumers.

Lord Carter is expected to propose that every house has a legal right to broadband, most likely at the standard 2 megabit speed. There will also be measures to stimulate spending on both fixed and mobile broadband technology, which it is hoped will form part of a broader programme to create 100,000 jobs in “sunrise industries”.

Opposition politicians attacked the new tier of bureaucracy. Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: “A new quango and additional taxes seem a bizarre way to stimulate investment in the digital economy. We have a communications regulator; why, when times are tough, should business have to fund another one?”

Top executives from media and telephone companies will go to 10 Downing Street to hear about Digital Britain before the plans are presented to Parliament at lunchtime.

ISPs and mobile phone companies have been in talks with the music industry about creating “all you can eat” services, where for an annual or monthly fee, subscribers have access to every recorded song. Before Christmas, Nokia launched a £130 phone that allows its owners to download any song released by the world’s four major music labels.