Digital Britain Report: ICMP welcomes report and opportunity to dialogue on illegal filesharing

Brussels, 17 June 2009 - ICMP welcomes Digital Britain's recognition of the damage that illegal filesharing is having on the music industry and the goal to reduce it by 70-80% in the next three years. However we share UK Music's concerns that the requirement of ISPs to notify subscribers identified as infringing copyright and collect information on them, will be insufficient in enabling the government to achieve this target.

In today's virtual world we need to recognise the need for strict online copyright protection; failure to do so threatens the rights of artists and songwriters across Europe. People must be educated to understand that creative rights are a property and that property must be protected just like any other.

ICMP members favour a series of proportionate measures to help curb the unlicensed use of music online and is actively supporting efforts to ensure ISPs take full repsonsibility in this area.