UK ISPs to permanently cut off illegal file sharers
By Dave Parrack
The record industry has asked UK ISPs to permanently ban illegal file sharers from accessing the Internet. And if they don’t agree to the harsh new punishment? Then the government will step in and increase the official legislation meant to deal with the problem.
According to The Register, the Music Publishers Association is currently in high level talks with the Internet Services Providers’ Association to try and secure the deal. If it comes to fruition, we would see persistent file sharers immediately banned from their ISPs.
At the moment, the ISPs are known to prefer a financial penalty rather than a users access being permanently disabled. The ISPA is publicly stating that they are neutral carriers who shouldn’t be responsible in this way.
Even if this draconian measure doesn’t get the thumbs up, the Labour government has vowed to get more involved and increase the sanctions against anyone who infringes on the piracy laws.
Lord Triesman, who recently promised to police virtual worlds such as Second Life, is the under secretary for the Innovation, Universities and Skills department of the British government. He recently stated:
“Where people have registered music as an intellectual property I believe we will be able to match data banks of that music to music going out and being exchanged on the net.”
This almost certainly signals an attempt by the British government at creating a system of digital fingerprinting to track the movement of pirated material over the web.
I don’t know what’s worse, the ISPs having their arms twisted to cut file sharers off in an instant, with no right to reply, or the government piling more laws on to an already illegal activity which millions of people continually flout.
Surely someone somewhere is going to realise soon that the horse has bolted. Despite many attempts at trying to stem the flow of file sharing over the net, including some high profile court cases in the States, people are continuing to do it. And these aren’t criminals, they are ordinary, otherwise law abiding, citizens who just want a fair deal.
Instead of punishing them, maybe the people in charge should spend their time and resources coming up with a viable solution.
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