UK Decriminalized Online Piracy


Looks like those who pirate movies, music or video games, won’t be having to worry too much about the law within the UK. Today it was announced that starting in 2015, the UK government will be changing how they look towards online piracy, giving pirates essentially complete freedom.

If you’re in the UK and you pirate, we’ll you’re apart of a massive group. How massive? Well, about a quarter of all downloads last year within the UK were piracy related! This is no easy fight for the UK government and instead of trying to come up with a way to further punish those who pirate, they instead wish to educate the results of their actions.

A new scheme known as the Voluntary Copyright Alter Programme (VCAP) will be the main front of how to battle against piracy. What this will mean is that those who pirate and are caught will be given a letter. The letter will go over how pirating online content is illegal. You will get a total of four letters if you’re caught up to four times.

If you pirate past four, the result will be nothing. That’s right, there is no further action. Really, it’s UK’s way of hoping to persuade and educate those who pirate. Currently four of the biggest internet providers – BT, TalkTalk, Virgin and Sky have all agreed to the new VCAP and it’s likely the smaller IP’s will follow along.