Every pirate risks a hanging

UK ISP Virgin Media and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) are discussing the possibility of a "three-strikes" copyright policy, reports Ars Technica.

The policy would boot copyright infringers offline after three infractions. BPI enforcement agents would detect IP numbers for users on illegal P2P networks, then alert Virgin, which will warn violators multiple times before resorting to disconnection.

ISPs in the UK face pressure to agree to this or similar policies before the government legislates an unhappy compromise, the Register writes.

Japan recently launched an anti-piracy campaign similar to the three-strikes one that Virgin may implement. In November of last year, France announced it would simply deny web access to copyright violators.

Stateside, ISPs increasingly address piracy as more of a bandwidth issue than as a malignant attack on traditional content providers. Some toyed with connection throttling; Time Warner is testing tiered broadband in some markets.

Verizon and Comcast are working with P2P networks to find an elegant solution between insatiable demand for free content, and content providers' need to profit.