2009 – The good, the bad and the ugly!
Dec 9, 2009 Business, Copyright, Digital Divide, Featured, File Sharing, Marketing, Net Neutrality, Privacy, Regulation
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As we approach the end of an eventful year I thought it would be apt to take a look back over the main industry talking points of 2009 to evaluate what happened, why we were discussing it and where we are currently at. When we have completed that let’s take a stab at predicting what we will be discussing in 2010.
Elsa Chen, General Manager
The ‘hottest’ topic of 2009 was undoubtedly illegal file sharing
We first covered this subject back in April with an article discussing the Pirate Bay case. The four founders of the website ‘The Pirate Bay’ were found guilty in a Swedish court for assisting the illegal downloading of copyrighted material. They were each sentenced to 1 year in jail and ordered to pay £2.4million in damages to the entertainment industry. This was the catalyst that started the raging debate between the entertainment industry, the government and ISPs which continues to this date. The entertainment industry and a number of high profile MPs, in particular Peter Mandelson, are calling for a three strikes and you’re cut-off policy. However, ISPs have continuously raised concerns regarding the accuracy of correctly identifying offenders and the fact that cutting a user off is presuming guilt before a fair trial with minimal and potentially flawed evidence.
This topic continued to be covered for several months and was once again inflamed with the release of the Digital Britain Report which actually advised against a three strikes policy, much to the annoyance of the entertainment industry.
- Entanet Opinion: The pirates of… Sweden
- Entanet Opinion: USC: Solving the digital divide
- Entanet Opinion: Guilty until proven innocent is the wrong approach to file sharing
- Entanet Opinion: Are YOU on the list?
- Entanet Opinion: Mandelson’s mindless meddling infuriates Internet industry
So where are we at now?
Tags: Broadband, Business, Copyright, Digital Britain, Digital Divide, File Sharing, IPv6, Marketing, Net Neutrality, Privacy, Regulation
(5 votes, average: 3.20 out of 5)
Loading ...Mandelson’s mindless meddling infuriates Internet industry
Oct 29, 2009 Copyright, Featured, File Sharing, Privacy, Regulation
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Once again Lord Mandelson has sparked anger amongst ISPs by announcing that the controversial three strikes policy for tackling illegal file sharing will be adopted in the UK by April 2010, despite ongoing criticism from the Internet industry.
Darren Farnden, Marketing Manager
Speaking at the ‘C&binet Conference‘, Mandelson announced that if the amount of illegal downloading had not dropped by 70% come April 2011 following the introduction of the new proposals (which include bandwidth squeezing and download caps), then further harsh measures including the disconnection of file sharers would be imposed from July 2011. Whilst the use of disconnection is expected to remain a ‘last resort’ measure, the news has once again infuriated the Internet industry.
Since the conception of these proposals Entanet has voiced its concerns and, following Mandelson’s announcement, ISP TalkTalk said that it would “continue to resist any attempts to make it impose technical measures on its customers” and has set up a campaign called “Don’t Disconnect Us” to lobby against the plans.
- BBC News: Net pirates to be ‘disconnected’
Tags: Broadband, Copyright, File Sharing, Privacy, Regulation
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Is residential broadband recession proof?
Sep 8, 2009 Business, Featured, Reselling
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It might come as a surprise to learn that Ofcom, in some of its latest research, reports that residential customers now view broadband as an essential utility for communication. Previously it was thought only business customers had come to rely on it significantly.
Neil Watson, Technical Support Manager
Equally unsurprisingly, the report shows that during the recession we are spending more time at home browsing the Web and that this pastime has become more important than other forms of social enjoyment. When asked which activity they would rather cut back on, 47% of respondents said dining out and 41% said holidays compared to just 10% willing to cut back on their broadband service. While these findings may not raise eyebrows, they do reiterate the fact that residential users are now viewing their broadband service as more of an essential utility than an expendable luxury. Therefore we pose the question, is broadband recession proof?
Despite the findings that only 10% would sacrifice their broadband connection, the report highlighted that the same respondents are however keen to control how much they spend. In the last year the average household spend on Internet services fell by 66p a month and there is now a growing trend towards the adoption of bundled services. Again hardly earth shattering results, after all we are in a recession and we are all looking for ways to save money!
Tags: Broadband, Business, Reselling
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
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