People hear want they want to hear. And, these days, they also watch what they want to watch and read what they want to read, at a time of their choice, and without paying. The unchecked rise of downloading of films, music and even books means that millions of people worldwide now get their entertainment easily, online and without entering a shop or cinema.

The creative industries are suffering mightily as a consequence; the main US film studios lost an estimated $2.3 billion (£1.15 billion) to internet piracy in 2005, and the British music industry says it has lost £1.1 billion since 2005. As a great deal of online downloading is illegal, it is understandable that industries want to press for the enforcement of laws broken and to stem the loss of profit.

The British Phonographic Institute (BPI), which represents the UK’s recording industry, has called for some years for individual users to be prevented from downloading content illegally. Last year it shifted its attention to the internet service providers (ISPs), asking two companies to intervene and terminate the contracts of internet users known to infringe the law. But, along with groups such as the Music Business Forum calling for more monitoring, the BPI has met with intransigent outrage from the ISPs and the online community. ISPs argue that it is as impossible for them to monitor customers’ internet use as it is for the Post Office to monitor the contents of envelopes, and many cite confusion about how the internet works as the cause of the misguidedness of the proposed regulation.

However, their argument is undermined by the ISPs profiting from the contracts used by illegal downloaders, and the allusions to downloading in their marketing. ISPs already control some content. British ISPs have taken measures to block access to child pornography, after BT collaborated with the Home Office on a project called Cleanfeed. And it does not seem impossible for creative and internet industries to work together; it is happening in the US and in France. The Motion Picture Association of America announced earlier this month that, after negotiations, all the leading ISPs would be carrying out “much more aggressive monitoring” of file-sharing activity. In France, President Sarkozy last month endorsed an agreement between creative representatives and a number of ISPs to combat organisations providing free online content, and individuals downloading it. Punishment will, initially, take the form of a terminated ISP contract rather than prosecution.

The Government, then, was right to conclude, after a select committee report, that it believes “strongly that the industry should do more to discourage piracy.” However, the task of holding to account the millions of British downloaders needs to remain proportionate to the civil offence committed. Freedom of access is one of the internet’s key characteristics, and it needs to be cherished. Regulation could smother legitimate pursuits as well as illegal downloading.

The Government is right to urge ISPs to work with creative industries to create a body to investigate claims of infringement of copyright. The emphasis of such a body would most sensibly be on tracking down providers of illegal content rather than consumers. ISPs should crack down on lawbreaking to keep the internet as profitable and unregulated as possible.