Musicians Call for Crackdown on Illegal File Sharing

Musicians Call for Crackdown on Illegal File Sharing-

Some of rocks heavy hitters have added their names to a letterwhich will soon be on its way to David Cameron asking thegovernment to crack down on illegal downloading.

Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, Brian May from Queen,Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend & Sir Elton John are some of thenames who have called for action on the illegal downloading and distribution of music.

The letter, which will be sent to PM David Cameron next week andhas already been sent to The Daily Mail, also highlights the rolethat search engines such as Google plays in giving people theaccess to illegal copies.

Search engines should "play their part in protecting consumers andcreators from illegal sites," the signatories say . Adding thatbroadband companies and online advertisers need to takeresponsibility and do more to prevent piracy.

The musicians are claiming that the UK economy could be boosted ifstronger copyright laws were introduced, protecting the fledglingmusic industry and they believe that the Digital Economy Act 2010must be implemented. This would then force service providers,search engines and online advertisers would have to protect usersfrom illegal sites.

The letter also states that the London Olympics will create a newglobal attention on Britain's creative industries, and argues thatthe country is in the position to increase its exports from themusic industry.

"We can realise this potential only if we have a strong domesticcopyright framework, so that UK creative industries can earn a fairreturn on their huge investments creating original content," thesignatories say, calling for illegal activity online to be "pushedto the margins".

They add: "The simplest way to ensure this would be to implementswiftly the long overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and onlineadvertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creatorsfrom illegal sites."

In New Zealand the government have started issuing £8,000 fines topeople caught illegally downloading three times or more, and thenumber of illegal downloads has reportedly halved.