Britain’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport has released the final version of their Digital Britain report (PDF) which assesses how the state might remain a force in creating and distributing content on the internet.

The report casts a wide net and includes topics such as online privacy, mobile spectrum allocation, education in media and security. Most notably, however, the Digital Britain report calls universal access to broadband by 2012 and the state’s right to impede access should Britons abuse the system for copyright infringement.

The Department of Culture names universal broadband access as one of its five pillars in the so-called Industrial Activism required to foster Britain’s future digital economy. The purpose, says the report, is to offer a superior level of public service delivery.

“Securing universal access to broadband, increasing its take-up and using broadband to deliver more public services more effectively and more efficiently,” the report reads.

The report further indicates that broadband will soon become an essential component of modern business.

“It will soon not be possible to run a business effectively unless it is equipped with high-bandwidth access to the Internet,”  says the Department of Culture.

“These are the roads of the 21st Century, and alongside a public service requirement for universal access, the UK Government must seek next generation access that is scalable to 1Gb/s and beyond.”

The report also outlines how the British government might penalize infringement, and offers a loose framework that includes blocking, throttling, filtering, and legal action.