Recommendation 28

Any proposal for a new text and data mining regime must include transparency mechanisms that enable rightsholders to check whether their data has been used. It must offer technical enforceability that goes beyond the likes of robots.txt indicators, which remain inadequate. Meaningful sanctions for non-compliance are essential and the Government’s anticipated IP consultation should explore the options for independent regulatory enforcement. Requirements for web crawlers to identify their purpose are needed too. The Government should encourage good practice by championing an emerging market for licensed AI data training providers. We urge the Government to dedicate significant technical, policy and political resource to address these challenges at pace. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology should outline its plans in response to this report.