European efforts to protect copyright in the face of the digital onslaught continue: A story in The Bookseller reports that in England, “Publishers have called on politicians to support proposals to punish persistent illegal filesharers with internet suspension to ensure the economic strength of the UK.”

The report, by Catherine Neilan and Graeme Neill, says efforts are concentrated on the Digital Economy Bill. In fact, HarperCollins CEO Victoria Barnsley, called in by Parliament to testify about the bill, says, “Anything which falls short of what the government proposes in the forthcoming Digital Economy Bill will jeopardise not just one industry, but a whole sector.”

As she put it, “It’s no exaggeration to state that copyright is central to the UK’s economic recovery,” she said. “By the same token, the enforcement of copyright is essentially important.”

The CEO of the Publishers Association, Simon Juden, agreed, warning policymakers against considering literary copyrights as being in the same situation as other forms of creative copyright. As Juden put it, “It would be dangerous for policymakers to treat them the same. Developments across the creative sector are far from synchronised.”