http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.c ... id=121406&

The Gay Lord (one for the Mock the Week fans there ) isn't happy about those downloaders - they're not even fraudsters like him

What a [LIFTED]. You know big business has the government in their pockets when...

How on this Earth can you fine someone £50,000 for downloading a song worth 99p, or a game worth £30?

He met with music industry bigwig David Geffen before this annoucement

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/au ... -crackdown

Cock.

Pirate Party FTW (not that I agree with piracy but the punishment must match the crime)

I think most people must know about the potential fines if you are caught by now. You have to wonder, why are people still doing it? Knowing you could be caught and asked to pay a sum that most people will never see in their lives, unless they are American's who have had a medical bill recently...you'd think twice about it wouldn't you!

I would rather the Government got involved early on to put the blocks on file sharing - that way it has to be realistic, accountable and subject to FOI etc. The situation in the USA is much worse, the RIAA are almost a law unto themselves, able to sue for impossible and unrealistic amounts of money. No government of this country would try to get away with that, or allow a UK company to get away with suing a teenager or their parents for millions of pounds. £50,000 sounds like a lot of money, but when you take into account the written warnings and connection slowing that would happen first, you'd have to be pretty daft to carry on with it.

Gav, I have to say I disagree. This whole saga only continues because record companies refuse to live in the digital age and insist on protecting 20th century dead business models.

It has been said so very many times that until consumers get an "all-you-can-eat" download service for a fixed (reasonable) monthly fee, people are going to continue downloading music "illegally".

I think government regulation is wrong, but I think Gav has a point, there has been enough press about it, that people should know the consequences of copying now...

I think the fines are ridiculous and the music (and film/TV industries) need to move into the 21st century, but that still doesn't make sharing copyrighted files okay.

Likewise, getting the government involved will probably make sharing non-copyrighted files, or files for which you hold the copyright, illegal as well.

Why?

Do you really think people who don't pay now will pay later just because it's easier? It's really not that difficult to legitimately purchase music online these days and claiming that paying is "just too hard" is merely another excuse to explain away not wanting to pay for stuff.

While I think the amounts imposed by the courts are ridiculous, it's not as if people don't know the consequences of their actions. The reason people download music without paying is because they think they can get away with it (unlike taking a car or a TV, which carries a higher risk of being caught). If the odds of being caught downloading music become greater than not being caught, I'd say there'll be a swing away from bootlegging songs.

I say bring back allofmp3.com

That was a really good service.

Absolutely, without penalties people will even skirt around an all-you-can-eat service because it'll cost money, so you need to punish the few to deter the majority. There's nothing stopping people from using 7digital or itunes besides an unwillingness to accept that the track you have just stolen cost money to produce and you should really pay for it.

I love threads like this . means I have to think about somrthing i take for granted ,here in Spain it is not illegal to download a copy for my own personal use ,it's only when I share or sell that I get trouble .

The music industry rarely does itself any favours, so I find it hard to have sympathy for them no matter what tbh

iTunes etc should have been set up by the industry, but they haven't got a clue. They can't even see that something like a YT vid is promoting their artist(s) - do they honestly think people are gonna bother going round individual sites for a quick glance at a vid?

And on that note, why don't they come to a sales and ads deal with Google/YT for money they otherwise wouldn't get? Wouldn't be greed would it?

IIRC it's the same over here. They get you based on the fact that bitorrent and other p2p technologies actually share whilst downloading.
I believe it's due to the licence you have about not being able to transmit the works over networks. Although ripping a CD you've bought to your HDD is also against copyright over here as you have the rights to listed to the music on the medium of CD but not change the medium it's on.

So what happens if you turn sharing off? I bet they still drag you to Court.

If you turn sharing off you generally can't get a good download speed or any seeds.

Would make an interesting case as then it's technically just theft instead of distributing copyrighted works.