The government are to introduce a Pay To Prove Your Innocence scheme. As part of the revised Digital Economy Act, suspected internet pirates will have 20 working days to appeal against any allegations of copyright infringement and pay a fee of £20 to do so.

The details of this legislation are contained in a secondary draft presented to both Parliament and the telecoms regulator Ofcom. The scheme is expected to begin in 2014.

In an interview The Creative Industries Minister, Ed Vaizey, said: “We must ensure our creative industries can protect their investment.

“They have the right to charge people to access their content if they wish, whether in the physical world or on the internet.”

In the unveiled plans ISPs are being asked to send letters to users suspected of copyright infringement. A total of 3 letters will be sent, each letter will be 30 days apart and detail information where the user would be able to access licensed content.

Under the new legislation copyright owners can also request details about all the accusations made against any account holder who has received 3 or more letters within a 12-month period. If rights holders wish to pursue this further them must seek a court order from the ISPs to request more details.

Mike O'Connor chief executive of campaign group Consumer Focus said: “Copyright infringement is not to be condoned, but people who are innocent should not have to pay a fee to challenge accusations.

Kitguru Says: How long before some hacktivist group list the IP address’s of all the MP’s so we can clone them.

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