Government hints at ISP file-sharing crackdown - ZDNet UK

Government hints at ISP file-sharing crackdown - ZDNet UK

A statement on the website of the Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA) claims that ISPs cannot monitor or record the type of information passed over their network. "ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope," the statement adds. "ISPs deal with many more packets of data each day than postal services, and data-protection legislation actually prevents ISPs from looking at the content of the packets sent."

However, Triesman said on Wednesday that "where people have registered music as an intellectual property, I believe we will be able to match data banks of that music to music going out and being exchanged on the net". He clarified his statement by suggesting that the government was not intending to go after "14-year-olds who shared music" — reminiscent of the approach taken by music bosses in the US — but rather those who distributed other people's copyrighted material via P2P for profit.

cnn video of government crackdown of isp's in the uk