The BBC reports that seven million of us are illegal file sharers according to a report from Government advisers. Going by the the number of people using one network on one day, the estimate is they have access to £12 billion worth of illegal material.
David Lammy, the minister for Intellectual Property goes on to say that this puts into context the impact of illegal file sharing.
“This is not an issue confined by national boundaries and I am sure that other [EU] member states and their copyright industries will find this report of use in the development of policy.”
He continues. The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) advised that attitudes will be hard to change.
An alliance of nine UK music industry bodies, plus associated trade unions, have been calling for the government to make ISPs switch off the most ardent of file sharers. Also an “all you can eat”, music service has been asked for to tempt would-be law breakers back into the fold.
ISPs believe it’s not their job to police the web, however, they have perhaps forgotten that they are already enforce the EU Data Retention Directive. And this is not the first time that there has been a call for file sharing to be stamped out, as the UK film council has also blamed file sharers for endangering the industry and jobs if some measures are not put into place.
As we all know of course, the UK Government are particularly venal, and big business are extremely astute at greasing the wheels, so I am completely sure that business will get their way. So how will they tell what is illegal and what is not? I’m not sure they can, they can only assume that if you are sharing files some of them will be illegal by statistical probability.
Perhaps we could exercise our right to vote, and have our say. Although I don’t think you can vote out the music industry.