Illegal downloading 'costs UK £650m'

UK record industry trade body the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) has announced it has won a court order to force ISPs to reveal the identities of 33 suspected file-sharers.

Five ISPs will now have days to turn over the details of the suspected uploaders,who, the BPI claims, have posted 72,000 music files to the internet illegally. The BPI is pursuing the 33 for compensation.

The BPI has also revealed more about the second wave of file-sharers to be collared. One third of the unlucky 31 are parents whose children's uploading habits have landed them in legal hot water.

A spokesman said of the process of negotiating compensation with such parents: "In the first round of cases, we took into account the fact that a lot of parents wouldn't be aware.

"But it's not like we go, 'You're a parent, we'll let you off'."

Illegal downloaders are costing the music industry over half a billion pounds over the last two years, new research has claimed.

The research, carried out by TNS on behalf of the BPI, found that illegal music downloaders are likely to have spent £654m less.

The research also found that half of illegal downloaders said they will continue to get their music illegally, 34 per cent were unsure whether they will switch to legal sources or carry on using illegal file-sharing services and 15 per cent said they intend to start paying for their downloads.

The BPI spokesman said illegal downloaders who claim their file-sharing prompts them to buy more music are talking nonsense.

"Whether they go out and buy 50, 100 or a million albums, file-sharing is still illegal," he said. "This isn't the first piece of research that shows any promotional effect is outweighed... by the damaging effect."