Movie pirates face Christmas crackdown

The UK Film Council is examining ways to clamp down on rising levels of internet and traditional movie piracy, and has promised to publish a report on the topic shortly.

"We need to look at practical issues to deal with this huge and growing problem," said Caroline Nagel, spokeswoman for the UK Film Council.

"We'll be putting forward about 20 recommendations for dealing with it. We will be publishing a report on the topic in mid-December."

The comments follow last week's decision by the Motion Picture Association of America to prosecute individuals for downloading films over the internet.

British and European media vendors have traditionally been unwilling to prosecute individuals in the same way as their American counterparts, feeling that it would be counterproductive.

Instead they have concentrated on the bigger problem of organised piracy carried out by criminal gangs here and in the Far East.