Net Firms to Work with Music Industry Against File Sharing

Six of the UK's largest net providers have reached an agreement with the music industry to take down digital piracy, the BBC reports.

As a result of the arrangement (which was settled by the government), hundreds of thousands of letters will be sent to net users suspected of being involved in sharing copyrighted material.

The parties who inked the deal were BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, which represents the music industry, commented: "All of the major ISPs in the UK now recognise they have a responsibility to deal with illegal file-sharers on their networks." According to him, persuading ISPs to take on this stand was a tiresome process which took a long time.

By signing up the deal the firms agreed to make efforts towards a "significant reduction" in the illegal sharing of music. They have also committed to create legal music services.

File sharing enthusiasts could be soon facing slow broadband connections as a measure forwarded by the UK government.