ISPs have hit back at mounting criticism—and pending regulatory action—that they are not doing enough to halt digital piracy. After months of vociferous complaints from music and film companies and trade bodies, the government is planning next week to publish a green paper that would advocate a “three strikes” policy in which ISPs would be responsible for handing out warnings to their users suspected of illegally downloading content before cutting their internet access off completely if they failed to stop. But the ISP trade body, the Internet Service Providers Association, claimed they were “no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope,” according to the FT. But some have argued as Deloitte’s media director James Bates has that rapidly improving deep packet inspection technology meant that ISPs could do more. But as Eversheds solicitor James Bates asked, how does an ISP deal with a user downloading legal P2P content from a site that is “known” for their illegal content? Bates noted it could be an “unacceptable onerous task,” and one that violated privacy laws.

• Government To Propose Three Strikes Policy For Digital Pirates; BPI Applauds Effort