Copyright Law

UK Official on ?Three-Strikes?: Digital Piracy the Same as Physical

By soulxtc

Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy defends plans to disconnect illegal file-sharers, saying it’s important to let people know that illegal file-sharing is the same as physical piracy.

UK Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy gave a speech to the MPAA in Washington DC recently during which he defended Lord Mandelson’s controversial “evolved” plans to disconnect repeat file-sharers from the Internet.

He said the proposal was important in “sending a clear message: when it comes to piracy and infringement, ‘digital is not different.’”

It’s the same sort of 1:1 lost sale nonsense that belies the mounting studies that have concluded the opposite: P2P increases music consumption.

Lammy also seems to be stunningly ignorant that most of the problem is the fact that most copyright holders refuse to provide viable alternatives to P2P.

“Partnership and innovation by businesses can help consumers understand the problems illegal downloads cause creators and performers, giving them the knowledge and confidence they need to act within the law,” he said. “If we provide the right combination of enforcement, education and forward-looking policy we can build a culture that provides consumers with legitimate access to the content they want.”

So P2P is to blame for the entertainment industry’s refusal to provide the selection, quality, and reasonable price of content that consumers have long been looking for?

Nonsense.

The music industry didn’t, and arguably still doesn’t, want to have anything to do with digital distribution. It’s fought almost every consumer demand until declining profits reached levels that made it listen.

The movie industry’s the same way. It has but a handful of movie download portals and all are either way overpriced ($15 bucks for a digital download?) or lack a decent selection to choose from. Movie rentals on Apple’s iTunes force you to exist in it’s AppleTV walled garden universe if you dare to want to watch on your living room TV (gasp).

The only thing the entertainment industry, like all good businesses, understand is profits, and propping them up with govt legislation and consumer restrictions is no way to get them to change. It creates an artificial marketplace for them in which to compete and only further emboldens to maximize profits at the expense of consumers.

The govt needs to protect consumers and let the so-called “invisible hands” of t\he marketplace do its work.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on September 07, 2009 (boomark / email).