David Hendon, head of business relations at the Department of Trade and Industry, told the DTI select committee last week that peer-to-peer (P2P) file-swapping is responsible for a significant chunk of network traffic in the UK.
He suggested that many broadband users primarily want an always-on connection, rather than one that allows them to download as much information as they want, and that P2P users should be held accountable for their activities.
"A lot of the data travelling over the Internet is caused by, well, 'young people swapping files' is one description," said Hendon, speaking at an inquiry into the UK's broadband market.
"If the network operators and ISPs have support this activity, then it seems only fair to make the users responsible pay for the bandwidth they use," Hendon added.
The DTI select committee will publish the results of its broadband inquiry early next year, and Hendon's comments could encourage them to push for pricing models based on the amount of data users download each month.
The government, though, insists that Hendon was only expressing a personal view.
"This isn't government policy, and it wouldn't be right for the government to have such as policy," a DTA spokesman told ZDNet UK. "We believe such issues must be left for the market and the regulator to decide," he added.
Most broadband packages allow users to download as much data as they want from the Internet, in return for a monthly fee. Some analysts believe, though, that this model may not be sustainable in the long term -- as today's low broadband prices mean most companies are only enjoying small margins.
NTL recently provoked the wrath of its user base after implementing a "one gigabyte per day" download limit, and it's thought that this furore has deterred other ISPs from following suit as yet.
Talkback
Never leave the gate open when you visit a farm ... Of course such charges, when given legitimacy will be the precursor that will enable service providers to gain higher receipts from the delivery of their services. No one however speaks of how effective their policies have been on unsolicited SMS, SPIM and SPAM which consume a great deal more bandwidth than file swappers ever will.
Perhaps David Henden should look at the various ISPs advertising compaigns before passing judgements on 'Young' users downloading MP3 files.
ISPs advertise broadband by saying, download music, movies 10 times as fast as 56k modems and some ISPs go as far as saying you can download music all day etc as a way of marketing DSL\Cable highspeed access.
So is it right to moan\whinge when people are using it for the purpose that it was advertised for?
I heard this argument also come from certain ISPs complaining that certain users are using more than their fair share of bandwidth, the same ISPs that said to dial-up users, if you want to download alot of stuff then get broadband, and now people are doing just that, they are whinging yet again.
I can't understand to the life of me why people sell a product and when people use it as advertised they talk about slapping restrictions.
I'm also affended why David Henden has targetted 'young' people in this. I know people from a wide range of ages who download music from the internet, not just young people.
If Metered broadband is put in place, then I can see alot of broadband users feeling ripped off (being coaxed into getting broadband for fast music downloads, and now their stuck with it). If you can't download big files, then whats the point of having broadband?
It's almost like buying a BMW and being told you can't drive it on the motorway\highway.
What do they think BB is for?
The fact remains that by using broadband, we aren't squandering a scarce resource. Broadband enables a scarce resource (in this case time) to be used more efficiently. But of course, MPs know akll about that don't they.
Perhaps we ought to charge them for the time that they spend whilst engaged in un-informed debate.
That way decisions might actually be made faster.
Metered Broadband,ohh dear,Sounds like an idiot,i am in my early 40s and yes i use Broadband,and yes i use a bit of bandwidth too,and yes i swap files,before you start slapping me on the wrist,its people like us that have let broadband get where it is today,i am happy with bt,and yes i could get faster,and if i went cable,NTL,i could save myself some money,if the companies concerned brought out Metered broadband,i would knock it on its head,i pay £30 a month,plus line rental,£140 a year,i pay enough,i shop online,use this website for information,they do not have these ploblems in the states,upload speeds are slow in this country.
I wondered how long it would be before the government started considering taxing broadband. Is this just the first step?
This is yet another example of the Government / Civil Service living on another planet when it comes to technology.
Users already pay for their broadband bandwidth - it's seems that the ISP's have made a mistake if their networks cannot handle the bandwidth that they have sold.
Customers should not be punnished - the ISP should be compensating punters who spend money and don't get the service that they deserve or expect.
Metered Internet will without a doubt ruin the existing culture that has emerged through un-metered use of the Internet.
I am confused as to why the great marketing minds at the various ISPs don't get it - rather than penalise the consumer simply change the business model and introduce new ways to generate revenue. If TV content were metered - how much of us would happily sit through advertising. Obviously this is going to have an effect on the amount of Internet advertising that we will tolerate.
One of the greatest things to emerge from the internet is the culture of swapping and sharing of information, be it data or just pure information, freedom of speech and the ability to air opinions to a mass audience is one of the defining features of today’s internet. Metered Internet will reduce the amount of usage and thus reduce or limit these growing communities and culture.
Metered communication, sharing and expression - sounds bad to me.