Illegal internet downloads cost the economy billions of pounds and thousands of jobs, according to the the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP).
It reports that one peer-to-peer network had 1.3 million users online at midday one weekday, potentially freeloading 4.73 billion items a year worth £12 billion.
And it says that music downloading has "become part and parcel of the social fabric of our society despite its illegal status".
Says intellectual property minister David Lammy: "Illegal downloading robs our economy of millions of pounds every year and seriously damages business and innovation throughout the UK. It tackling, and we are serious about doing so."
In 2007, 890 million illegal music freebies were estimated by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), compared with 140 million paid downloads.
It is also getting easier, with 50 mps broadband delivering 200 mp3 music files in five minutes, a DVD in three minutes - and the complete works of Charles Dickens in 10 minutes.
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