While the bill has at least brought some clarity around roles and responsibilities for the content owners and ISPs in the fight against file sharing, it leaves many unanswered questions regarding the precise implementation of the measures.

A key area which remains undefined is how to measure the target of reducing file sharing by 70 percent.  In recent months, file sharing activity has seen a reduction, which could well be due in part to the growing popularity of music streaming sites, particularly among young people, enabling those who simply want to access content rather than own it, to do just that.

The shift towards access rather than ownership is likely to make it difficult for Ofcom to identify where any reduction in file sharing is down to the notification system, or is due to consumers choosing to use new innovative sites rather than file sharing.

Educating consumers about copyright on-line via the notifications is a welcome measure and taking legal action against those who have broken the law is also important, but the measures to disconnect people are also fraught with difficult implementation issues...

Will an individual be effectively disconnected from all ISPs or will they simply be able to move provider?  How long will the disconnection last?

How this will be managed remains unclear and, given that the content owners and ISPs have been unable to reach a consensus on the issue of file sharing for years, getting this system working quickly seems a rather tall order.