Under the government plan to tackle internet piracy, repeat offenders who illegally download music from artists such as Lady Gaga, will have their internet disconnected by 2011.  Nearly two thirds of those participating in the research, who admitted to illegally downloading music, said using Spotify had encouraged them to reduce the amount they used pirate sites or kick the habit altogether.  The survey, carried out on behalf of price comparison website,moneysupermarket.com, found that 12 per cent (one in eight) of the 2,310 British adults polled, have downloaded music from illegal sites in the past six months.  The practice was worse among men, with 16 per cent of men having illegally downloaded music versus the nine per cent of women of engaged in the activity.  The younger participants were also greater offenders, with 30 per cent of those under the age of 20 admitting to illegal downloading.  “Downloading music used to be mainly associated with illegal sites such as the old Napster, but now over a quarter (27 per cent) of people say they go to a digital source as first port of call; usually iTunes or Amazon,” said James Parker, broadband manager at moneysupermarket.com.  “With Spotify joining the ranks of legal music sites, illegal downloading seems set to become much less popular. With the new Spotify iPhone application and the new ‘Monkey’ tariff from Orange, which allows users to stream music from the orange site as part of the tariff, it will be interesting to see how these new mobile music services take-off. Streaming music for free or for a reasonable fee whilst on the move could spell the end for illegal downloading.”  He also said the number of people searching online for unlimited broadband packages was on the rise – which could be an indicator that downloading and streaming music are becoming a bigger part of online behaviour.  Since the publication of the Digital Britain report in June 2009, the government has been very vocal about how it plans to tackle online piracy. Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, has outlined a two stage plan.  In ‘stage one’, illegal filesharers will first receive a warning letter. Then there will be an indefinite number of subsequent warnings, which will state that legal action will be taken if the account holder continues to download illegally.  Legal action will then be taken by the rights holder against the worst offenders. Communications regulator Ofcom will set up a body to hear appeals. The regulator will report quarterly to the Secretary of State, with a goal to reduce piracy by 70pc.  If the ‘stage one’ process is unsuccessful, then the internet disconnection process, or ‘stage two’, will begin. This will begin with further warning letters threatening internet suspension and further infringement will lead to the offender being included on a “serious infringer list”.  Speaking at the C&binet media conference last week, Lord Mandelson admitted that this was a “three strikes” policy, although it is likely to be much slower that the “three strikes” law recently imposed in France.  “Technical measures will be a last resort and I have no expectation of mass suspensions resulting,” he explained publicly.  Lord Mandelson said that disconnection could come within a minimum 15 months of the Digital Economy Bill receiving Royal Assent in April, which would mean that current offenders will not be punished until the end of 2011.
Spotify, the music streaming service, has helped curb the illegal downloading    of music, according to a new survey.