Summary
21 July 2014
Warning emails are to be sent to people in the UK who are downloading music and films illegally. From 2015, up to four warnings a year will be sent to households suspected of copyright infringement.
Reporter:
Emma Simpson
Illegal downloads could amount to a quarter of content consumed online in the UK
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Report
Anyone who is found to have illegally downloaded material will be sent an alert offering advice on where to find legitimate sources of entertainment online.
But these messages will be capped for a year and there will be no penalties for offenders. It's a far cry from what the entertainment industry originally called for.
When the controversial Digital Economy Act was introduced in the final days of the Labour government in 2010, it included measures to cut off people's internet connections for repeated misuse.
This new three-year scheme is a compromise.
Latest industry figures suggest nearly a quarter of all content consumed online is illegally downloaded, including more than a billion music tracks within a year.
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Vocabulary
- legitimate
done according to the law
- capped
limited
- offenders
people who act illegally
- it's a far cry from
it's very different from
- controversial
causing people to disagree and argue
- misuse
(noun) improper use
- compromise
a settlement; a situation where people on all sides of an argument reduce their demands so that they can reach an agreement
