Online piracy punishments will be scrapped in the UK as of next year.

Under a new scheme, people caught unlawfully file-sharing video games, music and movies will be educated rather than punished.



As part of the voluntary copyright alert programme (VCAP), file-sharers will be issued with up to four warnings annually.

However, according to CVG, there will be no sanctions for ignoring them.

The VCAP scheme falls into the wider Creative Content UK initiative, which aims to promote legal sources of online entertainment.

Plans to introduce harsher punishments, such as shutting off a user's internet, were scrapped in favour of the advisory scheme.

Business Secretary Vince Cable described the UK's creative industries as one of the country's "brilliant global success stories".

"We have unrivalled creativity - from record-breaking musicians to box office films - that excite and inspire people all over the world," he continued.

"Yet too often that content is open to abuse by some who don't play by the rules.

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"That is why we are working with the industry to ensure that intellectual property rights are understood and respected.

"Education is at the heart of this drive so people understand that piracy isn't a victimless crime - but actually causes business to fail, harms the industry and costs jobs."

A 2012 study revealed that two in five UK adults have admitted to illegally downloading or streaming content online.

Another report said that while video game piracy was widespread, it was not as high as previously suggested.

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