The Federation Against Copyright Infringement (FACT) aims to protect its members intellectual property interests in the media and entertainment industry. In today’s digital world FACT constantly have to think on their feet to keep up with the range of infringement methods, particularly online.
FACT are quite open about the fact (no pun intended!) that they are more concerned with clamping down on those who provide links to copyright material for illegal download than they are in those actually downloading it. One tactic reported to be of increasing use to FACT has been the use of ‘domain name sign overs’. Essentially, when FACT learns of an IP address responsible for providing links to infringing material they send notice to the web host requiring the material to be removed and the domain handed over to FACT. The domain can then be utilised to redirect users to legal sources for download.
The above should be seen in light of a report released recently by Ofcom in relation to internet users understanding of rights in the content they access online. The research was conducted on users aged 12 and above and found that a massive 47% were unsure whether the content they were accessing online was legal or not. One in six also believed they had accessed or downloaded illegal content in the last 3 months. Clearly there is a need to increase internet user’s awareness of web content rights, and for all those involved in provision of internet service facilities to work together in policing the problem.