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Lord Mandelson has suggested that tough new measures could be used to stop file sharing online in a move which could effectively criminalise around 7 million UK citizens. These news laws could include internet restrictions and heavy fines that could reach as high as £50,000 for the most serious repeat offenders.
Under the suggest new laws, extended powers given to Ofcom will allow them to track down and send warnings to computers that have been detected as sharing illegal files. The result of ignoring a warning could be something as simple as having your internet connection blocked. However, it could also result in huge fines which could be levied if the offences continue. In fact, the proposed laws for copying and sharing illegal copyrighted material online will actually be stricter than those normally handed out to people committing petty theft and shoplifting crimes offline.
This news follows a report that won’t surprise many: Mandelson had dinner last week with David Geffen, who just happens to be a big name in the music and movie industries and someone obviously strongly against the idea of filesharing online. Critics everywhere from national newspapers to the UK Pirate Party are calling the attempt a waste of time and money. Communities’ editor of Telegraph.co.uk Shane Richmond said:
“Over the last decade and more we’ve seen numerous attempts to stop filesharing and not one has worked. This won’t work either because technology will stay ahead of attempts to control it, and if prosecutions do occur they will not deter the committed downloader.”
With studies showing that millions of web users across the UK have admitted to downloading copyright files, it’s just as hard as ever to see how exactly such legislation would ever work as anything more than empty threats and the occasional lawsuit designed to scare people. Firm legislation and information on the implementation of fighting piracy has yet to be revealed by the government.
Whatever is decided, the cost of finding those who illegally download files is likely to run into millions of pounds and will be paid for by the taxpayer, not the media industries themselves. It will also raise many personal privacy issues that have yet to be discussed.
Meanwhile, recent studies suggest that streaming music services like Spotify are leading the way in offering a far more intelligent and long term solution in the fight against piracy.
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