Film downloading by age, filesharing (blue) and via legal services (red)

A government commissioned report has recommended that the Swedish authorities concentrate on stopping uploading of copyrighted material to the Internet. But there would be no penalties for unlimited downloading.

The study, headed by Cecilia Renström, was turned over to Justice Minister Beatrice Ask on Monday. It calls for increased responsibility on Internet Service Providers to block access by any customers who upload large amounts of protected music and film.

Speaking to Swedish Radio News, Renström said occasional uploads should not be punished, but measures should be taken to stop frequent uploaders. ISP’s would not have to spy on their customers, however. It would be the responsibility of copyright holders to get court orders forcing ISP’s to close down specified major file-sharers. There would be no punishment directed against any level of downloading.

The proposal has been criticised by ISP’s. Marcus Nylén, CEO of Bredbandsbolaget, says the proposal would be ineffective against large violators, and ISP’s would end up playing Internet police against small file-sharers.

Before last September’s Swedish elections, the various parties competed in promising to remove restrictions on file-sharing. That followed the widely publicised police raid on the Pirate Bay, one of the world’s foremost file-sharing sites. The politicians suddenly discovered a large constituency that had embraced file-sharing.

The study rejects a so-called “broadband fee”, which would have been levied on all Internet subscribers. The funds collected would have been distributed among rights holders as compensation for the file-sharing of protected material.