Chris Marshall: Can the music pirates be put to the sword

Many people who indulge in online piracy don't even consider it a crime, and despite years of public information campaigns and industry efforts to stop the problem, thanks to the internet it has never been easier to access illegal content.

But now it seems that life is about to get considerably harder for those who illegally download music and films, as the entertainment industry wages a fightback against a scourge which has brought it to its knees.

While illegally downloading the latest blockbuster or turning to internet piracy for new music may seem to some like a victimless crime, a recent study found that the practice cost Britain 39,000 jobs and retail losses of 1.4 billion in 2008.

Earlier this week authorities in Ireland announced plans that could see persistent offenders banned from the internet for up to a year.

And Ofcom, the UK's media regulator, last week unveiled a proposed code of practice aimed at reducing online copyright infringement which it expects to come into force in early 2011. Under the proposed code, a list of those users downloading illegal pirated files would be drawn up, with the names and the number of times individuals infringe logged.

Music firms and movie studios can then request details from the list to decide whether to take their own action against serial infringers.

Initially, the code will only apply to internet service providers (ISPs) that have more than 400,000 customers, including BT, Talk Talk, Virgin Media, Sky, Orange, O2 and the Post Office.

But for many in the industry, any moves to curb file-sharing are already too late, with a whole generation of music lovers used to getting what they want for free.

The problem has been further compounded by legal sites such as You Tube and Spotify, which allow users to stream video and music without charge.

The result is a world which has left behind the High Fidelity-style record store which used to thrive on Britain's high streets and has forced struggling bands to come up with ever-more creative ways to earn a crust.

Kevin Buckle, owner of Avalanche Records, which has stores in Cockburn Street and Glasgow, says the effect of illegal downloading on the local music scene has been "dreadful".

"The argument some people use is that those who download illegally will then go and buy stuff they like," he says. "But my experience is that while that may apply to some people, it's usually men between the age of 30 and 35.

"What you find is that the younger kids don't listen to things for very long and the big issue is that they don't feel they should pay for music at all. In our store we get almost no students. They used to be our core customers."

But while illegal file-sharing is harming his business, he is not convinced that plans to tackle internet piracy will work. "I just don't see how that level of effort to catch people is worth it. Anybody who is that bothered will always find other ways around it.

But there's no future for bands or for music if people expect it for free."

Earlier this week, the biggest internet firm in the Irish Republic, Eircom, announced plans to ban customers from the web for a year if identified as an illegal file-sharer. It is the first nation to implement such a system, but France is also planning to introduce a similar policy.

UK watchdog Ofcom is due to publish its code of conduct for how UK ISPs should deal with net pirates later this week.

The Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) has begun supplying Eircom with "thousands of IP addresses", from which the ISP will initially cross-reference about 50 per week to extract the physical address of identified net pirates.

People who are sharing files illegally, rather than just downloading content, are set to be targeted. Initially, they will be sent a letter and a follow-up phone call from a new unit set up by Eircom to deal with the issue. If they are identified a third time they will have their service withdrawn for a week and, if a fourth infringement occurs, will be cut off for a year.

Scots entertainment lawyer Murray Buchanan says file sharing is now at "epidemic proportions", but says the entertainment industry has been slow to tackle the problem. "Now that the genie is out of the bottle, I don't know how we get it back in," he says.

"While it's undoubtedly going on, I'm not sure that illegal file sharing is entirely to blame for the woes of the recording industry or the film industry. Revenue is down because there are other things we are spending our money on."

He says internet and mobile phone providers are currently investigating plans including a monthly levy on bills in return for customers downloading as much as they want from legitimate sites.

Sites such as Apple's iTunes could also offer audio streams, rather than downloads, moving away from a world where users actually own a digital copy of a song or film.

The growth of file-sharing websites has opened up free forms of entertainment unthinkable a decade ago. The challenge now is for record companies and film studios to come up with new ways to lure increasingly web-savvy, not to mention thrifty, customers.