January 23, 2017

In recent weeks there have been news articles published about the “Get It Right from a Genuine Site” awareness campaign, which aims to highlight the value of the creative industries to the UK. The awareness campaign is part funded by the Government.

As well as the awareness campaign, this initiative incorporates the distribution of educational emails by ISPs, which is being funded by rights holders and ISPs. These are being sent to residential broadband subscribers when their internet connection has been used illicitly to share files that contain copyright protected content with others.

The Government’s update explains to consumers the important difference between these educational alerts and letters that broadband users may have received alleging online copyright infringement from other organisations acting on behalf of rights holders.

The Get It Right from a Genuine Site is a partnership between rights holders, the Government and ISPs. The awareness campaign has targeted 16-24 year-olds, their parents, grandparents and others responsible for household internet connections, as well as others who influence young people’s attitudes to accessing content. The Government says that the campaign is to educate consumers about the wide range of legal sources of content available to UK consumers and to promote the value of the creative content and copyright that underpins it.

The Government says that the campaign has now reached 21% of the population and, whilst piracy levels remain constant, it has decreased significantly among those exposed to the campaign.

The educational emails that follow on from the awareness campaign will outline the details of the file alleged to have been shared, such as a song, album, film, TV programme or e-book, as well as the date and time it was shared. The email will also provide links to help the recipient find legitimate sources of content and offer information about how the file that was shared has been linked to their broadband account, resulting in an email.

The IPO has previously offered guidance about letters that have been sent by other organisations representing rights holders that allege online copyright infringement. In these cases the rights holders are likely to be seeking compensation for the financial loss they have suffered.

To ensure no confusion between a Get it Right email with a copyright infringement letter, the Government explains that Get It Right from a Genuine Site emails will always carry the Get it Right branding and the branding of the consumer’s ISP that sent the email, and they will never ask for money (compensation) from the broadband account holder. To read the Government’s update in full, click here.