British Spy Agency Against Three-Strikes Internet Anti-Piracy Plan

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MI5, Britain's intelligence agency and police have come out against the UK government's proposed plan to implement a three-strikes system to curb online piracy.

The Times reports that the police and MI5 believe the plan will backfire by moving people on to encrypted services, which will then make their jobs of tracking real criminals, such as those who trade in child pornography, much harder.

Even the government's own Digital Britain report failed to back a cut-off policy, preferring instead to throttling, or lower the connection speeds of those suspected of frequent piracy. The movie industry is willing to accept throttling, as movie files are large in size and will be difficult to download if speeds are slow. The music industry still prefers the cut-off approach.

A recent poll suggests that 70% of the citizens of the UK are against a three-strikes system, and major telecommunication companies and ISPs have all come out against the plan, which they say will increase the cost of Internet usage.

More:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6885923.ece