Standardised pricing may stop illegal downloaders

EU views internet piracy as a "wake-up call"

The EU is calling for pricing of music and media downloads to be standardised across Europe in a bid to prevent internet piracy.

According to EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding, internet piracy is deemed as "sexy" by youngsters and should be the "wake-up call" to indicate current laws are not preventing illegal file-sharers. However, Reading claims that by ensuring pricing is the same in online content stores such as iTunes, illegal file-sharers may be persuaded to stop.

Reading told Reuters: "It will be my key priority to work on a simple, consumer friendly legal framework for accessing digital content in Europe's single market, while ensuring at the same time fair remuneration of creators".

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The EU is calling for pricing of music and media downloads to be standardised across Europe in a bid to prevent internet piracy.

According to EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding, internet piracy is deemed as "sexy" by youngsters and should be the "wake-up call" to indicate current laws are not preventing illegal file-sharers. However, Reading claims that by ensuring pricing is the same in online content stores such as iTunes, illegal file-sharers may be persuaded to stop.

Reading told Reuters: "It will be my key priority to work on a simple, consumer friendly legal framework for accessing digital content in Europe's single market, while ensuring at the same time fair remuneration of creators".

Reading also revealed she plans to digitise more books, after claiming that 90 percent of publications in European libraries are no longer commercially available, and encourage use of mobile phone payment schemes.

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See also: US woman appeals $1.9m music piracy fine