Mandelson takes on the internet pirates
Following a similar decision in France, the UK government has recently announced its intention to legislate against persistent illegal file sharers.
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Lord Mandelson has been keen to push through laws which would see frequent sharers of copyrighted files either disconnected by their ISP (Internet Service Provider), or have their internet speeds significantly reduced. Intended to become UK law by 2011, it would introduce a “three strikes” system similar to that used in France. File-sharers would first be sent an email by their ISP, followed by a written letter, then finally disconnection.
Naturally a controversial issue (some estimates put the percentage of UK internet users sharing copyrighted material at 60%), groups have divided into two camps.
At the centre of the opposition are the ISPs themselves. They argue that they should not be forced by the government to check what their service is being used for. Often used to demonstrate this point is the analogy of roads. The government couldn’t arrest a road-builder because a getaway car from a bank heist drove upon it. Just checking all the UK’s traffic will require much more effort, as well as potentially slower Internet speeds, as traffic is re-routed through authentication servers.
Even with the plans in place, it’s nearly impossible to distinguish legitimate users from their illegitimate counterparts (the University for example blocks the ports used by the BitTorrent protocol, disregarding the fact that it has many legitimate uses).
Civil liberties groups such as the Open Rights Group and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are also both strongly opposed to the plans. While in favour of monitoring “illegally shared” content, such plans, if put into place open the door for future governments to monitor citizens’ internet use more closely.
Many have also argued that piracy would simply move into newer places, a ‘darknet’ of sorts, behind the ‘prying eyes’ of the government or ISPs.
Of course, there is an equally strong argument in favour of disconnecting or slowing down pirates, mainly from the holders of content being shared. Record groups such as Warner Music and EMI have welcomed the suggestions.
A campaign headed by singer Lily Allen has given its support to efforts to harshly reduce piracy. In opposition to the Featured Artists Coalition, another group comprising ‘older’ musicians who feel that such heavy-handed treatment is not necessary and punishes fans. Allen has criticised the group, which consists of already successful musicians such as Radiohead, Blur and Pink Floyd as content to rest on its laurels, having already made its money in a climate where illegal file sharing was significantly harder, and ignoring the plight of newer artists losing revenue.
One thing that is for sure is that the music industry is changing. Recent court cases against popular BitTorrent tracker ‘The Pirate Bay’ have shown this.
Perhaps hope lies in applications such as the increasingly popular Spotify, providing free, ad-supported streaming. It’s impossible to stop internet piracy completely. Maybe it’s about time the music giants stopped trying to punish those sharing files, and put some effort into offering attractive alternatives to ween them off piracy willingly.
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