In what appears to be a historic about-face,Britain's six biggest Internet Service Providers or ISPs have agreed to join the fight against online piracy, sending letters to those suspected of illegally downloading files, warning them to stop or else.For the BPI which represents Britain's recorded music industry, this day has been a long time in coming.Matt Phillips is BPI's Director of Communications.This is an incredibly significant development, and we should make no bones about that.And what we've seen for the first time is that Internet Service Providers have recognizedthat they have a role to play and indeed a responsibility to tackle the massive shared problem of illegal file-sharing.The BPI estimates that only one in twenty songs downloaded in the UK is done so through legitimate services,and that up to 6. 5 million people in Britain regularly share files illegally.But some like the UK's Open Rights Group argue a government-led crackdown is the wrong way to go about fighting piracy.What I think industry is missing here is a real opportunity to get the majority of people,I mean, 80% of teenagers who download online, told a survey last month that they'd much rather have a legal option.And the industry needs to get that on the table right now.The UK's culture secretary is unrepentant for the government's tough stands.I cannot stand by while, you know, we see value wiped off our creative industries. If they are gonna be successful in the future as we want them to be,they have to be critically underpinned by workable systems of copyright.
