The drive to make ISPs more responsible for policing digital piracy continues full steam. The FT reports that next week the government plans to unveil in a green paper on the creative industries a proposal in which ISPs would face prosecution if they do not enforce a “three strikes” policy against those customers who illegally download music and films. In November, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed a similar policy that the EU is now considering copying.

The three strikes policy that ISPs would be legally required to enforce would work like this:

First strike: Suspect is issued an email warning.
Second strike: Internet access contract is suspended.
Third Strike: Internet access contract is terminated and access is cut off.

The Internet Service Providers Association told the Times it was still trying to avoid a government-enforced regulation. But so far, ISPs haven’t exactly rushed out to find a solution. According to the BPI, which represents the UK recorded music industry, it has been trying to get ISPs to tackle digital piracy for “well over a year.” The BPI—which estimates there are some 6 million British broadband customers regularly using P2Pnetworks to illegally download music--had strong words for the ISPs, whom they claimed had “built a business on other people’s music.”

BPI CEO Geoff Taylor: “This is the number one issue for the creative industries in the digital age, and the government’s willingness to tackle it should be applauded. Now is not the time for ISPs to hide behind bogus privacy arguments, or claim the problem is too complicated or difficult to tackle. It is time they started showing some corporate responsibility and partner with us to allow our digital creative economy to grow.”

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