Digital Britain Plan Could Increase Illegal Downloads

The Government has been warned that its Digital Britain plan could increase illegal downloads, with the music and film industry potentially being a thing of the past unless anti-piracy measures are introduced soon.

The warning follows a recent survey carried out by the Industry Trust where more than 30 directors of film and TV companies stated their concerns about the damage caused to their industries by piracy.

94% of them stated that if there wasn’t stronger support from the government, the damage caused may not be fixable.
The Industry Trust’s Director General, Liz Bale, recognises that the film and TV industries are not currently as affected by piracy as the music industry. However, she still feels that it is a wake up call for the government.

She said, “If the current framework hasn’t changed in five years, the UK industry will have become insignificant. This is a wake-up call for government as well as industry.”

Liz continued, “Digital Britain proposes creating a massive hub in the UK of innovative content creators and publishers, and net-savvy civilians backed up by digital literacy. But in opening the floodgates for business we need to make sure we are not enabling illegal businesses. We need to clear the undergrowth, in the governments own language.”

The worry over the rise in illegal downloads comes as new super-fast fibre optic broadband speeds are planned across many parts of the UK – potentially making it faster than ever for people to download movies and music illegally.