Businesses cautioned on file sharing futures
Published:17-June-2009
By Kevin White
File sharing problem partly a business issue
The crack down on file sharing proposed yesterday by the government as part of the Digital Britain report will impact on businesses as much as consumers, industry commentators argued.
The government has suggested that ISPs need to be much harder on people who are found to be file sharing. The proposal is that ISPs curtail activity with bandwidth throttling or protocol blocking, and even cut off the broadband access of persistent offenders.
“The measures to tackle file sharing go some way to addressing the problem, however placing greater onus on ISPs raises issues in terms of the practicalities of enforcement,” Blue Coat’s EMEA marketing VP Nigel Hawthorn said.
He also argues that businesses need to be aware that illegal file sharing isn’t just a consumer issue and that they’re responsible for data and traffic on their networks. “Ultimately management must ensure that they are taking the steps needed to ensure that employees aren’t breaking copyright using the organisation’s PCs and networks, as the organisation could ultimately be liable.”
Businesses need to gain greater control and ownership of what is happening across their own networks not only to mitigate the security risks to their corporate network but also to identify the applications that are clogging the company pipes.
“They should then use the available tools and technologies to prioritise the business critical traffic - ever more important as the boundaries between the home and work are blurring,” he said.
The government said yesterday that it intends giving Ofcom stronger powers. The body will have a duty to secure a significant reduction in unlawful file sharing by imposing two specific obligations: notification of unlawful activity and, for repeat-infringers, a court-based process of identity release and civil action.
The objective is to cut online piracy and illegal file sharing by 70% over the next year. The report also suggested the creation of a rights agency to develop a detailed charter and code of practice for dealing with information from ISPs. For their part, ISPs have consistently argued that it is not their job to police the internet and that cutting off customers is not good for business.
