For some years now illegal downloading has been not just a small problem for the government, it has been a catastrophic problem as the number of illegal downloaders continue to increase each week. This has continued to raise the question of when the government will clamp down and do something about it, and that time has finally come we think.
Stuff.tv reported today that the government has unveiled a “three strikes and your out” policy for illegal downloaders. Lord Mandelson confirmed at the government’s digital creative industries conference C&binet today, that the previously mentioned idea of cutting the internet connections of persistent filesharers could go ahead from the summer of 2011, and what an impact this would have if it went ahead.
It is important to note here though that if this did happen, then it would for sure be a “last resort” being issued after two warning letters beforehand.
Lord Mandelson commented “It must become clear that the days of consequence-free widespread online infringement are over,” he went on to add “Technical measures will be a last resort and I have no expectation of mass suspensions resulting.”
It would seem that the government are not trying to benefit from this, they are just simply trying to cut down on illegal activity and this comes from a widespread crackdown on it.
Do you think this is the right thing to do by the government or is this an area which the government should leave alone?
3 thoughts on “Lord Mandelson Issues “three strikes and your out” Policy For Illegal Downloaders!”
Government should leave this alone. They should let the judges use previous case law on copryright violations and infringements to come to a judicial decision and deal each case with the facts. There are already statutes on these issues so they should just let the judges interpret these statutes as the cases come to them. The Government don’t like the Judiciary stepping on their territory, likewise they should not be stepping on their’s.
This is very bad… The Government should definitely stay out of this.
There is an amazing attitude evolving, that stealing music or film illegally is something we are going to have to accept due to the development of the internet and file-sharing technology. Some people seem to think fighting this form of crime is ‘uncool’.
But if the internet allowed easy access to those same people’s savings accounts would they accept that ‘this is just the pace of technology and they have been left behind’ like the record labels?
I work in the high tech photonics sector and we protect our IPR with vigour to ensure the future of our business and employees. Why shouldn’t the record labels who invest heavily in the creative arts protect their IPR. Anyone who suggests that this type of crime cannot be stopped, using VPN or hidden IP address etc, is technologically ignorant.
More high level musicians/artists/writers should think about how they became famous in the first place (not by illegal file-sharing) but hard cash in the form of PR, advertising and distribution and the hours of hard work by lots of ‘behind the scenes’ employees.
Is it possible that the artists who are ‘fiercely criticising’ the business secretary for this Bill; such as Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Damon Albarn, might not have been famous today if illegal file-sharing was in its heyday 30 years ago?