With the impending launch of LTE based services in the UK, the copyright lobby has warned that laws are not keeping up with technology developments.
The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) says that it has doubts as to whether the yet-to-be-implemented Digital Economy Act 2010 (DEA) is adaptable enough to meet the next generation of connectivity.
The DEA was originally passed in 2010 but is not likely to be implemented until 2014, having been beset by delays and legal challenges. From its inception, the DEA was aimed at dealing with illegal peer-to-peer file sharing, but controversially also requires the ISPs to send letters to customers when informed that they are sharing content illegally.
At the time that the DEA was drafted, mobile networks, such as 4G and public Wi-Fi, were not deemed sufficiently conducive for effective and wholesale copyright infringement. However, recent developments, such as the introduction of 4G networks and the growth of public Wi-Fi services, will open up new opportunities for copyright infringement beyond the current scope of the DEA.
Julian Heathcote Hobbins, General Council at FAST, said: "The DEA has the potential to be a valuable piece of legislation in the fight against illicit peer-to-peer copyright infringement and a significant development for rights holders as an educational programme. However, the DEA must remain timely. The issue is that by the time the DEA is finally implemented, technology could have moved on so far making the Act ineffective in helping to deal with those using 4G networks to share files. In its current form the DEA is not sufficiently flexible in scope to account for advances in technology."
The Creative Coalition Campaign (CCC) has expressed similar views in its consultation response, in which it suggests that online infringement is "already a problem on mobile networks", likely to be exacerbated by the introduction of faster internet services such as 4G. Ofcom should, they argue, insert a mechanism into the code to allow the scope of the DEA to be flexed up easily as required.
