By: MarkJ - 12 June, 2009 (12:57 PM) - Views: 770 - Categories: Illegal Downloads
The Federation Against Software Theft and Investors in Software (FAST IiS) has launched an attack on the government's suggestion that illegal downloader’s could face reductions in their broadband speed instead of being cut-off from their ISP (original news). John Lovelock, FAST IiS's Chief Executive, called the idea "a waste of time" and warned that technology would find ways around it.
FAST IiS contends that the only credible measure that will be respected by persistent online "digital thieves" is for the Government to introduce the recommendations from the 2006 Gowers Review. This government sponsored independent review of intellectual property made the suggestion that offences in the digital world should be punished in the same way as crimes in the physical world with the same sentences.
We certainly agree that a court of law is the only true way to tackle serious levels of piracy, though it's perhaps not practical for targeting the millions of UK consumers who now partake in such activity - often without even knowing that what they're doing is illegal. Many of the statistics produced to show the damage also fail to factor in real-world spending trends (i.e. somebody downloading 1000 songs probably wouldn’t ever have bought that many anyway).
FAST IiS itself clearly favours the disconnection rout as a punishment, one which ironically suffers from even more pitfalls than the notion of reducing a customer’s connection speed or blocking P2P access/sites. The only true way to know if somebody has done something illegal is to examine their hard disk and that requires a court, no other method would be reliable enough.
The reasons why people do it in the first place must also be tackled. Ultimately there is no one solution that will solve everything, though better education and more legal/fair priced online digital distribution services would be a good place to start. We’ll do a more detailed analysis of whatever the Digital Britain report proposes next week.
FAST IiS Chief Executive John Lovelock stated: “This is the second year Wiggin has conducted this research [RELATED NEWS] and what is noticeable is that those who claim they would not stop has in fact more than doubled, up from 30% to 67%. This will be worrying news to all software developers, most of whom in the UK are smaller businesses, along with all the hundreds of thousands of people employed in music, film, TV and publishing.
Here is proof, if proof were needed, that a realistic deterrent will only deliver the impact needed. There must be a fear factor together with a significant likelihood of being caught. Over the past two weeks we have seen government minister flag up ideas like reducing the speed of broadband. What a waste of time and a technical absurdity otherwise, technology will more than likely, progress to neatly side step such barriers.”
Here is proof, if proof were needed, that a realistic deterrent will only deliver the impact needed. There must be a fear factor together with a significant likelihood of being caught. Over the past two weeks we have seen government minister flag up ideas like reducing the speed of broadband. What a waste of time and a technical absurdity otherwise, technology will more than likely, progress to neatly side step such barriers.”
FAST IiS contends that the only credible measure that will be respected by persistent online "digital thieves" is for the Government to introduce the recommendations from the 2006 Gowers Review. This government sponsored independent review of intellectual property made the suggestion that offences in the digital world should be punished in the same way as crimes in the physical world with the same sentences.
Lovelock continues, “These thieves are stealing the livelihood of two million UK workers who contribute 8% of our GDP. In a time of rising unemployment and massive government debt it seems crazy that digital thieves are let off with lighter punishments and wishy-washy talk of restricting their broadband speed. Let’s show the offending element that he Government means business, and support our creative industries like other nations do with theirs.”
We certainly agree that a court of law is the only true way to tackle serious levels of piracy, though it's perhaps not practical for targeting the millions of UK consumers who now partake in such activity - often without even knowing that what they're doing is illegal. Many of the statistics produced to show the damage also fail to factor in real-world spending trends (i.e. somebody downloading 1000 songs probably wouldn’t ever have bought that many anyway).
FAST IiS itself clearly favours the disconnection rout as a punishment, one which ironically suffers from even more pitfalls than the notion of reducing a customer’s connection speed or blocking P2P access/sites. The only true way to know if somebody has done something illegal is to examine their hard disk and that requires a court, no other method would be reliable enough.
The reasons why people do it in the first place must also be tackled. Ultimately there is no one solution that will solve everything, though better education and more legal/fair priced online digital distribution services would be a good place to start. We’ll do a more detailed analysis of whatever the Digital Britain report proposes next week.
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Comments: 3
AgrajagPosted: 12 June, 2009 - 11:16 PM
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My heart bleeds, it really does.
The main reason why they wont agree to provide DRM-free downloads of movies and TV shows is not the fear that people will distribute them around (of course this is already happening with P2P).
They want to control how, where and when you watch their products. They want you to buy a different copy for every device you own, and god help you if you copy their products from one device to another illegally.
AnonPosted: 13 June, 2009 - 1:59 AM
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Another reason is cost, DVD's, BluRay's and CD Albums are far over priced bring them down and people will pay!
And of course people are reluctant to buy movies and music as the formats are changing or the manufacturers cant decide on the format (BluRay/HDVD) people get confused. Downloading a movie or an album is far easier and you dont have the fear of having a format that is or will be obsolete before long.
Why would the majority of people buy a DVD now? you can compare this to TV's the majority of people wont buy a CRT as HD LCD/Plasma are better...and personally I have a dilemma now bigger better LCD or the new LED TV's?!
End of the day if people buy something to add to a 'collection' they want it to last, illegal downloads are free and is a 'throw-away' media format i.e. you dont go through the heartache of throwing your VHS collection in the bin...soon to be your DVD collection!
DavePosted: 15 June, 2009 - 9:43 AM
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Lots of points could be made. But discussion is moot really. The genie of electronic distribution is out of the box. The owner of rights need to come to terms with this and work out a business model accordingly. Does anyone really believe that the sales of cd's. dvd's over the next decade are going anywhere but south? And with the new speed the government is promising the ease of downloading improves. Add to this the recent defeats in european courts for the 3 strikes option. And pirate bay winning electoral seats. The music companies have a challenging time ahead and I think the last ones to adapt will disappear.
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