SOURCE: BBC News
The government has published new measures that could see people who illegally download films and music cut off from the net.
The amendment to the Digital Britain report would see regulator Ofcom given greater powers to tackle pirates.
The technical measures are likely to include suspending the net accounts of "hardcore copyright pirates".
It is believed that Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has intervened personally to beef up the policy.
The Digital Britain report, published in June, gave Ofcom until 2012 to consider whether technical measures to catch pirates were necessary.
However, according to a statement from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills released on Tuesday, that timeframe is now considered "too long to wait".

Stephen Timms, minister for Digital Britain, explained the change of heart.
"We've been listening carefully to responses to the consultation this far, and it's become clear there are widespread concerns that the plans as they stand could delay action, impacting unfairly upon rights holders," he said.
It proposes that internet service providers (ISPs) are obliged to take action against repeat infringers and suggests that the cost of tracking down persistent pirates be shared 50:50 between ISPs and rights holders.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is keen to point out that none of the recommendations are set in stone, and are open to consultation.
'Disproportionate'
ISPs have repeatedly argued that it is not their job to police the web.
The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) said it was "disappointed by the proposal to force ISPs to suspend users' accounts".

ILLEGAL FILE-SHARING File-sharing is not illegal. It only becomes illegal when users are sharing content, such as music, that is protected by copyrights The crackdown will be aimed at people who regularly use technologies, such as BitTorrent, and websites, such as The Pirate Bay, to find and download files There are plenty of legitimate file-sharing services such as the BBC's iPlayer

"ISPA and consumer groups consider disconnection of users to be a disproportionate response, a view that was recently supported by the European Parliament," it said in a statement.
European politicians recently ruled that cutting off someone's internet connection could be a breach of their human rights. The challenge came in response to France's tough policy on file-sharers.
ISPA also said that the changes had been proposed "without consultation with the internet industry".
Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband website ThinkBroadband, thinks the U-turn makes a mockery of the original Digital Britain report.
"One wonders why Stephen Carter bothered to write the Digital Britain report, we are seeing sections of it being dropped or rewritten, and this even before the 18 implementation projects have got off the ground," he said.


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