Education 'the best way to tackle internet piracy'

Consumer education is the best way to tackle internet piracy‚ according to one expert.

Educating consumers about the impact of internet piracy is one of the best ways to tackle the intellectual property issue, it has been claimed.

Jack Wraith, chief executive of Telecommunications UK Fraud Forum, said illegal downloading needs to become morally and socially unacceptable among consumers in order for it to be stamped out.

He was responding to the European Parliament's recent rejection of legislation proposed by some European Union member states that would see internet users cut off if they ignored repeated warnings over peer-to-peer file sharing.

Lawmakers approved an amendment to a telecommunications reform package which stated that the rights of internet users cannot be restricted without the involvement of the courts.

This means that legislation being put forward in France could be under threat, as the European Parliament vote sends out a strong message to politicians about suitable responses to the problem.

Mr Wraith said it is important that any measures aimed at tackling illegal downloading do not just apply in one or two countries.

"Such an imposition would lead to unfair advantage to those jurisdictions that lay outside any legislative actions," he remarked.

"Imposing legislative actions is, to say the least, a major challenge and possibly not a realistic or practical one," he added.

Instead, he said that better education on the subject of internet piracy and its impact on the film and music industry could be the way forward.

However, Mr Wraith added that content providers must need to price their products in such a manner than does not encourage illegal downloading.

"If they make access to their products too expensive then consumers will find ways around the systems they see as unfair," he stressed.