Tougher penalties for pirates

Music and film pirates should face ten year jail sentences, says a new report. Former newspaper editor Andrew Gowers has made a number of proposals to toughen up protection of the entertainment industry's intellectual property, but suggests that purely personal format swapping, like transferring CDs to an MP3 player should be made legal.

Gowings report estimated that up to 20% of the industry's turnover is lost due to piracy. It was welcomed by the Chancellor, who has announced an extra £5million to fund more action in this area by Trading Standards' officers.