David Farnor | On 21, Jul 2014

UK ISPs, the government and industry bodies have teamed up to introduce a new campaign to tackle piracy.

The Creative Content UK initiative will begin with an awareness campaign designed to educate the public about legitimate online content services, followed by a series of alerts from ISPs warning customers who are thought to have infringed copyright. BT, Sky Broadband, Talk Talk and Virgin Media will all participate in the drive to contact customers and advise them that illegal filesharing is thought to have taken place through their account and direct them to legitimate sources.

The first half of the scheme is backed by £3.5 million in funding from the government, while the overall movement has been backed by the Motion Picture Association, the British Recorded Music Industry, BBC, Equity, the Film Distributors’ Association and others.

Business Secretary Vince Cable told the press: “The creative industries in the UK are one of our brilliant global success stories. We have unrivalled creativity – from record breaking musicians to box office films – that excite and inspire people all over the world. Yet too often that content is open to abuse by some who don’t play by the rules.

“That is why we are working with industry to ensure that intellectual property rights are understood and respected. Education is at the heart of this drive so people understand that piracy isn’t a victimless crime – but actually causes business to fail, harms the industry and costs jobs.”

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid added: “The Creative Sector is a key driver of the UK economy contributing £8m to the UK economy every hour and underpinning over 1.5m jobs. Copyright is the foundation on which the Creative industries stand and we must ensure it remains strong and continues to support the growth of the sector.

“The alert programme shows industry working together to develop solutions which support the long-term health of the UK’s creative industries. It will play a central role in raising awareness of copyright and pointing people toward legal ways to access content and I welcome this effort.”

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