Copyright Law

Anti-Piracy Group Wants ?3-Strikes,? Calls Throttling ?Waste of Time?

By soulxtc

UK Federation Against Software Theft and Investors in Software react to govt’s assertion that Internet connections of accused file-sharers will face “technical measures” rather than disconnection, adding there needs to be a “fear factor.”

Several times now the UK govt has revealed that it will not seek to disconnect those repeatedly accused of file-sharing via a “three-strikes” graduated response system to piracy, and will use “technical measures” to deal with the problem instead.

Well, some copyright holder groups are apparently not happy with that position, the UK’s Federation Against Software Theft and Investors in Software (FAST IiS) being two of those groups.

FAST IiS Chief Executive John Lovelock wonders why there is no punitive response to alleged copyright infringement.

He says in a press release:

?Online piracy is the greatest threat there is to the business software, video games, music, TV and film industries. FAST IiS has lobbied the Government for increased penalties for serious copyright infringers, digital copiers and ?pirates?. We believe the most effective way to demonstrate the seriousness these infractions have to the creative industries is to cut off the tool that enables them to take place. In the same way that dangerous drivers are banned from their vehicles, why should persistent content thieves harm this important UK sector, risking jobs and cutting taxable revenue? The issue is that we the industry are having to take second best because the Government doesn?t have the will to impose stringent penalties on what is no different to shoplifting in effect.?

Lovelock even laments that current laws treat online copyright infringement offenses more leniently than physical offences, repeating the same nonsensical 1:1 loss theory.

?A lost sale hurts the creative industries just the same whether a physical disk is copied or the offence happens online,” he says.

FAST IiS is therefore lobbying the UK govt to treat all copyright infringement offenses the same, where they happen physically or digitally, and to treat the creative industries in a coherent and joined-up manner by considering all industries when finalizing the Digital Britain report.

The anti-piracy group says there ultimately “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,” adds Lovelock. “What a waste of time and a technical absurdity otherwise, technology will more than likely, progress to neatly side step such barriers.?

Now FAST IiS is correct to call throttling a “technical absurdity,” but even more absurd is the notion of disconnecting individuals from what France’s top court has called a “prerequisite for democracy.” The Internet is vital for full civic participation and the expression of ideas and opinions, and thus disconnecting individuals from it should never be taken so lightly.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on June 15, 2009 (boomark / email).