While the UK government has announced a public consultation on the matter of filesharing, it’s unclear how much impact public opinion will have on the matter. Adding fuel to the fire, the UK government recently announced a target to reduce illegal filesharing by 80% by the year 2011.

This secret target was revealed in a leaked letter written by Business Minister Baroness Vadera.

The number of people illegally filesharing in the UK is estimated at about six or seven million. Key to curbing this trend, as Vadera says, are effective “letter writing, awareness raising and other measures.”

The letter writing refers to the letters Virgin has been sending to subscribers warning them of the perils of filesharing. Whether writing millions of letters would be enough to cut illegal filesharing by 80% remains to be seen.

The government has requested that the UK’s top six ISPs send out 1,000 letters a week to subscribers suspected of surfing for illegal music downloads.

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