Internet service providers must take concrete steps to curb illegal downloads or face legal sanctions, the government has said.

The proposal is aimed at tackling the estimated 6m UK broadband users who download files illegally every year.

The culture secretary said consultation would begin in spring and legislation could be implemented "by April 2009".

Representatives of the recording industry, who blame piracy for a slump in sales, welcomed the proposals.

"ISPs are in a unique position to make a difference and in doing so to reverse a culture of creation-without-reward that has proved so damaging to the whole music community over the last few years," said John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

A spokesperson for the Internet Service Provider's Association (ISPA) said that creating appropriate legislation would be very difficult.

"Any scheme has got to be legal, workable and economically sustainable," the spokesperson told BBC News.

He also said that ISPs were already pursuing self-regulation, which was the government's preferred route.

Privacy issue

"The government has no burning desire to legislate," Andy Burnham, culture secretary, told the Financial Times.

However, he said that the proposals signalled "a change of tone from the government".

Its intentions are outlined in a creative industries strategy paper called Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy.

The document is a broad ranging paper that sets out government support for the creative industries.

The document commits the government to consulting on anti-piracy legislation this spring "with a view to implementing it by April 2009", according to the FT.

"We're saying we'll consult on legislation, recognising there are practical questions and legitimate issues," Mr Burnham told the paper.

In particular, any legislation would have to take account of the 2002 E-Commerce Regulations that define net firms as "conduits" which are not responsible for the contents of the traffic flowing across their networks.

European laws on online privacy could also create problems for any new legislation.

Earlier this year it was reported that the government was considering a "three strikes" approach to tackling persistent offenders in the report.

But Mr Burnham denied this was the case and told the FT that the strategy had "never been in the paper".

If the government goes ahead, the UK would be one of the first countries to impose sanctions.

"This is a sea-change in attitude and I believe it is now up to governments elsewhere in Europe and further afield to follow their example," said Mr Kennedy.

A bold move; however I can't see it working without ISPs intruding on what data is being downloaded/uploaded without breaking the Data Protection Act.

I am in agreement with you there on the breaking DPA. Its starting to go really batty lately. In Pakistan the other day they were dealing something with YouTube I remember. Their gov. was upset over some cartoon, and now they wanted the ISP to make the IP from YT belong to another website, so his changed freaked out the net or something and then Google freaked out too. What a mess everything is becoming lately.

Site link here

I wanna be a music industry A&R guy in today's industry.

"Hey! I should keep my job, cause I didn't pick a horrible artist. Music piracy is why his CDs aren't selling."

A quick listen to almost any radio station will explain why record sales began slumping.

The music industry just keeps trying to force bad music down people's throat, and then blaming piracy for the albums not selling.

I suppose 50cent will have to settle for just the 2 swimming pools in his palace instead of the 3 he really really wanted, and he may not be rollin In Da Club in his Benz on dubz much anymore, not because he has no talent, but because his music is spreading like a computer virus in almost everyone's home.

It can be quite hard for an ISP to monitor websites people view and the content they download without breaking verious privacy laws - im sure that the Human Rights Act would also come into question (we seem to take it to far here).

One way to do it thought would be to filter certian keywords wuch as 'Warez' and 'Torrents' or any websites which offer these kind of programs.

Good one Mark!

I am not much of a radio listener, but in my car and in the kitchen, I do listen to radio. I find myself preferring the "older music" radio programs, with music that actually makes some sense. Then again, perhaps it's just me getting older.

I don't see how anyone could monitor anyone's traffic without breaking privacy. That's a huge issue. But, with the tons of surveillance cameras in UK, they should be the first to take this to the next level. Orwell was wrong, Big Brother will not be watching from the telescreen, he'll be using your webcam.

If the various organizations and governments want to hold the ISPs responsible for the actions of it's customers, they should be prepared to have the price go up across the board. After they have the ISPs being responsible for internet music piracy, then they can crack down on illegal gambling next. What should be after that? Then the ISP will have to hire more staff to do all this screening and document in triplicate their reasons for violating their customer's privacy. Of course, they will have to hire more lawyers as many customers sue for invasion of privacy and various violations of their civil rights.

On second thought, this could be the economic stimulus that we need in the States to ward off the threatening recession!

I don't see how this would be a stimulus. The ones most likely to end up as net winners would be lawyers, and the ones paying the price would be the customers. Higher prices are not a stimulus.

Could you imagine the poor guy or gal that gets that job?

Yes you, you watch all these customers and make sure their not doing anything bad, also take notes I want full details on my desk in the morning.